When the news of the April 23rd van attack on Toronto pedestrians broke, the city was in shock. Entripy’s CEO, Jas Brar, knew that Entripy could do something to help. As Canada’s largest t-shirt printer, Entripy has seen how custom t-shirts can bring people together both in times of joy and in tragedy. Entripy’s designers came up with a simple graphic of the Toronto skyline with the hashtag #TorontoStrong in the hopes of uniting the city and encouraging individuals across the GTA to show their pride in our city. “The t-shirt sends a strong message of strength and unity,” says Brar. The hope with the campaign was to not only help facilitate the city’s healing after the tragic attack, but to raise money for the victims and their families.

The #TorontoStrong t-shirts sold online for $20, with 100% of the proceeds going to the victims and their families. Entripy donated the t-shirt, the printing, and all overhead associated with producing the t-shirts. To ensure the funds were correctly dispersed, Entripy brought our external accounting firm, SB Partners on board. “Although money will not heal or bring back loved ones, it’s something we could do to hopefully alleviate a little bit of stress for them,” says Brar.

The Toronto community was fast to show their support. Orders came in from across the entire province, and even as far as New Brunswick. Global News helped to spread news of the campaign and showed a behind the scenes look at how the #TorontoStrong t-shirts were made: Global News, GTA company selling #TorontoStrong T-shirts to raise funds for victims of van attack

With a tight timeline and a desire to get #TorontoStrong t-shirts out to purchasers as quickly as possible, the entire team at Entripy pitched in with printing, sorting and shipping out t-shirts within a 48-hour timeframe. At the time of closing the campaign on Sunday, May 6th, 2,330 t-shirts were sold, raising $46,600 for the victims and their families.