Falls Church T-Shirt Fundraiser Buys Small Business Gift Cards

FALLS CHURCH, VA — Adena Williams and Suzanne Hladky thought they would sell only 50 T-shirts from their fundraiser to support Falls Church small businesses and residents in need during the coronavirus crisis. Little did they know, the donations would keep coming.

Their Falls Church Better Together T-Shirt fundraiser through the Bonfire platform has sold over 1,300 shirts, raising more than $21,000. An additional $2,600 was raised through donors who did not order T-shirts. All proceeds go to gift card purchases from Little City small businesses. These gift cards are distributed to families through three local partners.

"We were just completely flabbergasted at how successful this campaign [has been]," said Williams.

Williams got the idea after seeing an image of a woman wearing shirt from the In This Together fundraiser on Facebook. A San Antonio business owner started the fundraiser, wanting to give back after the community supported the business following a fire. The idea behind it is to sell T-shirts and stickers to purchase business gift cards and give them to organizations in need.

Williams and Hladky took this idea and adapted it to the Little City. Williams' husband's Falls Church company helped the pair design a dark gray T-shirt reading "Falls Church" in large yellow print and "We are better together" and "We are the Little City" in small print.

The fundraiser supports families in need identified through three partners: the Falls Church Education Foundation's family assistance fund, Food for Others and the City's Housing and Human Services office. Williams says the fund aims to support 140 families supported through the family assistance fund, 50 families in need identified by the city's office, and 40 to 50 using Food for Others assistance.

Williams says businesses are "incredibly thankful and gracious" for involvement in the fundraiser. The first phase of the campaign funded restaurant gift card purchases, supporting around 35 to 45 Falls Church businesses. While gift cards for food assistance will remain the top priority, Williams says the second phase will also include other kinds of businesses that families can shop at later, such as a barbershop, coffee shop or children's clothing store.

Williams and Hladky want to be transparent about how donations are used. They're working on documentation to let donors know where their money went.

T-shirts are $28 for adult sizes and $20 for youth sizes plus $3.99 for shipping. The order deadline for the next T-shirt shipment is later this week, but Williams says the fundraiser will continue for at least several more weeks. To place an order or donate directly, visit the fundraiser page on Bonfire.