‘THE NURSE SHIRT’
W&M grad student creates T-shirt to raise money for Nurses Foundation
VIRGINIA BEACH — Pictures on social media of medical personnel holding up signs imploring people to stay home so they can stay at work made an impact on Dakota Timm.
“I just felt like they’re risking their lives,” the 25-year-old said. “I wanted to do something.”
Timm, a Virginia Beach native and graduate student at the College of William & Mary, had made T-shirts in the past, so he decided to make another for nurses.
Instead of ordering just a dozen or so, he figured he needed to make more to bring the cost down. He pitched his idea to an advertising professional and a printer, who helped him for free. Then, an anonymous donor kicked in the funds to produce them.
Now, Timm and his childhood friend, Jason Friedman,
are selling “The Nurse Shirt” to raise money for the American Nurses Foundation through the Coronavirus Response Fund.
They started a website, ttcharity.org, and have been promoting it on social media with the hashtag #hnhu — an acronym for Help Nurses Help Us. Chris Keys of the Virginia Beach band LittKeys wrote and recorded a video of his song, “Who They Are” (A Song for Nurses) to help promote the T-shirt fundraiser.
The white, shortsleeved tees are $25. The front features a blue heart with electrocardiogram waves inside of it and a stethoscope around it. The words: “Helping Nurses Help Us” are printed on the back.
Timm and Friedman, 24, raised more than $7,000 as of Monday and hope to double that amount. They have volunteered together in the past, and they grew up in Bay Colony and graduated from Cape Henry Collegiate.
Timm started a small T-shirt business when he was in high school. In 2013, during his senior year, he sold “Cape Squad” tees in support of the school’s winning basketball team.
Timm lives in Williamsburg and is completing a Masters in Business Administration and a Masters in Accounting. On weekends, he returns to his mother’s home at the
North End of Virginia Beach to print labels and box up the tees to ship them across the country.
Friedman, who has family members who work in the health care industry, is temporarily staying in Virginia Beach and has been delivering shirts locally. He works as an analyst for Wells Fargo in Nashville, Tennessee.
“The nurses are the ones on the front lines really saving lives,” he said. “We really just hope to spread the word so we can raise more money for them.”
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@ pilotonline.com
The Helpers is a new feature from The Virginian-Pilot and the Daily Press about people and groups who are stepping up to help others during the coronavirus outbreak. To read the other stories in the series, visit pilotonline.com/ thehelpers or dailypress.com/ thehelpers.
“The nurses are the ones on the front lines really saving lives. We really just hope to spread the word so we can raise more money for them.”
— Jason Friedman