What do you give back to a Canadian legend? Especially one who has written the soundtrack to your life? Three Ontario entrepreneurs want to give him the gift of knowing Canadians are fighting for him — and fighting to keep others from losing a legend in their own families.
Two Canadian cancer survivors and a business partner who lost her uncle to brain cancer have launched a fundraiser in support of Sunnybrook to honour Gord Downie, the lead singer of The Tragically Hip. Downie is being treated at Sunnybrook for brain cancer.
Through the online fundraising campaign, supporters can purchase special edition ‘I love Gord Downie’ T-shirts. All net proceeds will go to the Gord Downie Fund for Brain Cancer Research.
The T-shirt campaign was spearheaded by three business partners: Joan Weinman, Kimothy Walker and Derek Donaldson. They have set their goal high: to hopefully raise more than $50,000 for Sunnybrook.
“As a cancer survivor, I was moved to collaborate with my partners to turn ‘What can we do?’ into ‘How can we do it?’,” says Weinman.
Since the Tragically Hip revealed in May 2016 that Gord Downie is fighting inoperable brain cancer, there has been an outpouring of support across Canada.
The T-shirt campaign encourages Canadians to wear their support for both Gord Downie and brain cancer research.
“Gord Downie has provided the sound track of our lives,” says Walker. “What better way to pay tribute to him than to raise money for the people who are treating him?”
The Tragically Hip wraps up their concert tour in their hometown of Kingston, ON on August 20, 2016, after starting in Victoria, BC on July 22, 2016. The band is aware of this fundraiser and directed the team to Sunnybrook to help implement it.
To learn more and to buy a ‘I love Gord Downie’ T-shirt, visit teesforthepeople.com
