AMD Promotions in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, has raised money for a local hospital charity through a T-shirt fundraiser.
The personalised clothing and promotional products company used a free embroidery design provided by Lhea Barratt at Creative Needle – Stay Home, Save Lives – to create T-shirts to raise money for the League of Friends of Bridgnorth Hospital.
Julian and Christine Brown, owners of AMD Promotions, said: “It was such a great message, so we test stitched some T-shirts and posted a picture on social media, where we got a really positive reaction.
“So, we decided to run a small fundraiser with an initial target of 50 T-shirts, charging £5 for them, and by donating all the T-shirts, materials and labour, give every penny raised – an initial £250 – to a small local health charity.
“We chose the League of Friends of Bridgnorth Hospital as we know lots of their volunteers already, and what a great job they do raising money to provide extra equipment and support to our local town hospital.
“We knew a relatively small amount of money could go a long way.”
AMD created the design with a Brother PR670e embroidery machine, using Marathon embroidery threads to embroider onto Fruit of the Loom’s Original T.
“We got the thumbs up from the League of Friends and launched the T-shirts online on the Sunday afternoon. By Monday lunch time, we had to close the ordering system as we have exceeded the 50 initially pledged,” explained Julian.
“We agreed to extend our fundraiser and sell 100 T-shirts to raise £500. Well, you can guess what happened – within hours of reopening, we hit the 100 and closed the system. We were blown away!
“We had already decided early on to donate the money in memory of a local man called Patrick, who was a big supporter of the charity.
AMD used Fruit of the Loom’s Original T
“Through online conversations the idea emerged to carry on the fundraiser – this time not for the T-shirt, but to keep the message alive – Stay Home Save Lives – and in memory of Patrick.
“With the blessing and support of Patrick’s family, we set up the fundraiser ‘Patrick’s Fund for the League of Friends of Bridgnorth Hospital’.
“Patrick was well-known and much loved locally, so whilst the T-shirt fundraiser has finished, the fundraising has taken on a life of its own.”
So far, AMD has raised over £1,300 for the charity through its T-shirt fundraiser, as well as through its online fundraiser and personal donations.
“Small local charities, like small local businesses, will need our support more than ever over the coming months,” added Julian.
“You can donate to the League of Friends of Bridgnorth Hospital in memory of Patrick here, and the online fundraiser will be open until the end of May.”
