When tragedy strikes, commemorative merchandise has a unique power to bring people together and raise awareness about a serious need.

The phenomenon is currently occurring in a small community in Canada.

Residents wear charity T-shirts printed by Spotlight Sport & Corporate Wear (asi/332753) in Humboldt; courtesy of Rocky Saretsky

On Friday, a bus transporting a hockey team from rural Humboldt, SK, to a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoff game against the Nipawin Hawks collided with a semi-truck. Of the 29 passengers, 15 players and team support staff were killed, including the team’s head coach. The Humboldt Broncos had won two national championships in recent years for this small town of just 6,000. The average age of the deceased players was just 19.

“To keep a junior team in a small little city like Humboldt, it takes all the community to be involved, it takes all the businesses to be involved,” former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy told the BBC. “These are the heartbeats of these little towns and cities. These players are the heroes in these communities. They are your soccer stars, your Manchester United stars in these small communities.”

Immediately, the hockey community rallied, raising $2.2 million for the victims’ families through a GoFundMe page by Saturday night. By Wednesday morning, it had surpassed $8 million. Players are also showing their support by wearing the Broncos team logo on their jerseys and helmets.

ASI distributors close to the Humboldt community plan to create commemorative apparel and hard goods that will honor the victims. Kelsey Hufnagel, owner of MR Promotions (asi/589134) in Martensville, SK, just west of Humboldt, is working on developing the design for the charitable items her company will be putting together, including hats, T-shirts, hoodies, vinyl stickers and hockey pucks.

The forthcoming design was suggested by Hufnagel’s son Robbie, a friend and former teammate of the players. “Proceeds will go to the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS), a nonprofit life-saving transport organization in Canada,” Hufnagel said. “We know that the GoFundMe campaign is in direct support of the 29 families involved. I’ve spoken with a lot of people in the past two days, and we feel the right decision is to support STARS. Their funding relies on donations from individuals, service groups, businesses and municipalities.”

In addition to finalizing the design, MR Promotions is working on a fulfillment strategy for these products. “There is a lot of demand across North America, and we are currently working on the logistics,” Hufnagel told Counselor. “We would be very grateful for any additional help the industry could offer.”

Mike Yager, owner of Spotlight Sport & Corporate Wear (asi/332753) in Humboldt, has established a T-shirt fundraising effort with proceeds benefiting families. He provided T-shirts with “We Are Humboldt Strong” in the team’s colors of green and yellow for the vigil held on Sunday at the Elgar Petersen Arena, the Broncos’ home ice. He told CityNews Toronto that he planned to print just 50, but in less than 24 hours had received 600 orders from across Canada. But then, his shop ran out of yellow ink on Saturday night, just before the vigil on Sunday.

“When that machine stopped, we were devastated,” he told the news outlet. “What are we going to do? We can’t get ink until Tuesday.”

Rocky Saretsky, a local construction company owner who knew many of the players and their families, offered to drive overnight to Edmonton and pick up the ink from the supplier. He hand-delivered it to Yager by early Sunday morning, who continued to meet demand from the customers lined up out the door of his store and down the street in Humboldt.

This week, Yager has been "bombarded" with orders from across North America, as well as the UK, Ireland, Germany, Australia, Dubai and Finland. As of midnight on Wednesday April 12, his shop had received 1,901 online orders, for a total of 5,475 items that have raised more than $125,000 for the victims' families.

“People want to show their support, and apparel works best to accomplish this,” Yager told Counselor. “People want to help out somehow and buying a fundraising T-shirt gives them that sense of belonging and showing support for the cause, all at the same time.”

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