The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
T-shirt aims to help local businesses
Fundraiser moves from web to T-shirts
Lorain County Strong shirts are a fundraiser for a new grant program created to help small businesses.
Those who want to support small businesses can show their love through a new line of T-shirts created during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The new Lorain County Strong shirts are a fundraiser for a new grant program created to help small businesses trying to stay afloat during closures and stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new Lorain County Strong T-shirt has a red, white and blue logo printed by Big Frog Custom T-Shirts & More. The locally owned shirt shop is in Avon Commons, 35878 Detroit Road in Avon.
“I’m super-excited to be able to help,” said Big Frog owner Cathy Kingsley. “How can I give back with so many people in need and so many people with the ability to help others? This is just a neat way of doing it.”
The shirts are $25, with $10 of that money returned to the new Lorain County COVID-19 Small Business Emergency Relief Grant Program.
It will offer new emergency grants for Lorain County small businesses starting as early as next week, said Tony Gallo, president of the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce.
Kingsley also has created an online store for other small businesses and nonprofits to sell shirts, so supporters can wear their logos and donate $10 back to the organizations involved. The remaining money covers the cost of the shirt, printing and the online store that allows shoppers to order print-on-demand shirts.
“If I could have a hundred shirts out there, there’s a hundred businesses we’d be able to help,” Kingsley said. “I’d be thrilled to be able to do that.”
As for Big Frog, the company can produce single shirts, so no bulk orders are needed. Customers pay online so the participating companies and nonprofits do not need to order shirts in advance, Kingsley said.
After 3 ½ years in business, Kingsley said she is grateful to her client base generally ranging around Sheffield Village, Elyria, North Ridgeville, Avon, Avon Lake and Westlake,
“I’m superexcited to be able to help.”
— Big Frog owner Cathy Kingsley.
and communities further away.
But her store is among those with reduced operating hours and closed to walk-in traffic.
The new T-shirts are available by curbside pickup, local delivery or mail.
“I’m really trying to find a way to do kind of a combined benefit,” Kingsley said. “How can I help people in the community and how can I stay in business myself? We are a small business and we are struggling.”
The shirt is a wearable extension of loraincountystrong.com, an online informational project created by the Lorain County Commission, local chambers of commerce and Main Street organizations.
The website provides businesses and residents with information about dealing with the effects of COVID-19.
It aims “to bring attention to those businesses that are open and operating in some ‘new’ style so customers can still support them.”
It has a lengthy list of local restaurants and resources for other businesses adapting to new work conditions.