COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- It started as a small group of friends with a small goal, but Wild Fire Tees has surpassed even their wildest expectations.
Wild Fire Tees is a group of around 12 volunteers who began selling t-shirts to help victims after the Waldo Canyon Fire. They said they got the idea from a group in Texas who did a similar thing last year.
"They sold 2,000 shirts in Texas. I was thinking 'well that's kind of a big goal' so we're like 'we'll do 200,'" Austin Buck, Co-owner of CoPilot Creative and initiator of Wild Fire Tees, said.
But the orders started pouring in, and soon the group had sold thousands.
"It's overwhelming. I mean very quickly we knew that we had something bigger on our hands and knew that we needed reinforcements," Buck said.
They have now sold more than 24,000 shirts, and the orders aren't stopping.
Despite their success their goal has never changed: 100 percent of proceeds going to Colorado wildfire victims.
Buck said they haven't wavered from that statement.
"Not one penny. We've got this whole group behind me, there's about 12 of us that have volunteered their time over the last week and half, two weeks, I can't even remember how long it's been, that's how crazy it's been," he said.
Because of the large amount of money raised the group reached out to the Pikes Peak Community Foundation (PPCF) for guidance.
"We're gonna help them kind of decide on the next points, where we can guide them for philanthropic purposes in this community," Eric Cefus, Director of Philanthropic Services for PPCF, said.
Cefus said Wild Fire Tees goes beyond a financial donation, he said it's proof of what a group of determined people can do.
"It's exceeded everybody's expectations, so it shows what a group who gets together and put their minds to something can do, that impact will be felt far reaching in the community," Cefus said.
Thursday Wild Fire Tees made a donation of more than $132,000.
"This first batch of proceeds are going through PPCF to Colorado Red Cross and Care and Share," Buck said.
The donation was split in half, and each organization received a little more than $66,000.
"Oh it's just amazing. It's a giant check. We're going to be able to buy truckloads and truckloads of food with it, it's just wonderful," Lynne Telford, President and CEO of Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado, said.
Telford said Care and Share will use the money to buy items that can't be donated like eggs, produce and meat.
"I want to thank everybody who bought a t-shirt or t-shirts because it really shows that by making that kind of gesture you can make a huge difference," Telford said.
With orders still coming in, more checks are on the way. Buck estimates they will be able to donate around $250,000 - $300,000 to local organizations.
They've raised the bar from their original goal of 200 t-shirts and now are shooting for $500,000 in sales.
"We should hit that in hopefully the next day or two," Buck said.
To order a shirt or donate one to a firefighter go to www.wildfiretees.com
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKXRM