All's Fair Wear-athon

Monday, 24 March 2014 05:04

Youth Unlimited Woodstock is raising funds and awareness for the fair trade movement.

WOODSTOCK -- Working 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. with one 23 hour shift per week thrown in the mix for some.

That is the typical work week of a sweatshop employee and the reason behind the Youth Unlimited Woodstock's All's Fair Wear-athon running April 4 to 10.

Peace Project Program Director at YFC/Youth Unlimited Woodstock, Dave Steenburg said the participants have a "marathon of wearing a shirt for a 110 hours" to raise funds and awareness on the issues surrounding fair trade.

"We do that to reflect the schedule of a particular sweatshop that I had come across in 2010, a report that gave a detailed account of the hours that these people worked at the sweatshop. So I thought, how do we get people to imagine the hardship of what it means to work in a sweatshop and I thought, well if we wore a t-shirt following their schedule we would get to see just how long 110 hours can feel like."

Participants can either create or join a team. Churches, elementary and secondary schools, businesses and workplaces typically sign up but any groups are welcomed to enrol, Steenburg said.

The teams are responsible for raising enough funds to cover the cost of each team members t-shirt but are encouraged to try and raise a minimum of $20. The fair trade made shirts, which are produced by women in Kolkata, India who were rescued from the sex trade, are $10 each.

Steenburg says the funds are divided between two organizations. "Churches tend to raise it for International Justice Mission Canada which is a charity that actually works at intervening in situations of slavery overseas. The other charity is Free The Children and Free The Children, I don't know if you know the Kielburgers and what they've done with mobilizing youth to see that they really can make a difference in the world. Schools, high schools and elementary schools will be raising money to build schools in Africa, Latin America and Asia, digging wells, projects like that."

To register and arrange the pick up for your Colour Me Fair t-shirt for the All's Fair Wear-athon, contact Dave Steenburg at www.yfcwoodstock.com or 519-537-8080.