The Dog Rescue Shirt Club Helps Dogs in Need
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Jim Scano is a Dallas firefighter who fights more than fires. He fights for the rights for dogs to be able to have a good home and a good life. He is a very dedicated firefighter who had an idea that he wanted to help other fire stations by creating T-shirts and selling them, raising money that he would donate to help out these designated fire stations. The club became known as the Firehouse Shirt Club, and ultimately, it raised tens of thousands of dollars to support over 70 different firehouses that were participating in the campaign. Soon after, Scano had the idea that if this idea worked so well for the firehouses, it could work for dogs, too. Dog rescues to be exact.
Scano admits that he has always been a dog enthusiast and due to that, for the past few years since the firehouse campaign, he developed the Dog Rescue Shirt Club. Jim says, “We officially launched the Dog Rescue Shirt Club based in Celina, Texas, in November of 2016 and have seen growth month after month since then.”
How the club works, is by providing each of the members with a unique T-shirt once a month. The shirt represents a specific dog rescue somewhere in the US. In order to be a member of this club and receive month T-shirts, each member pays $20 a month, and all of these proceeds are given directly back to the rescue represented for that month.
Scan explained, “Once a rescue has agreed to participate and be featured in a particular month, they send us whatever artwork they have. We have our printer in Celina create a mock-up for their approval,” Jim says. “If the rescue has a particular slogan, we try to incorporate that into the shirt as well. If they don’t have any artwork, we can help them with their design.”
He went on to explain how that once the design is approved, then the shirts get printed in quantities that are needed to fulfill the specific order. He says that how the designs are chosen is by the uniqueness of the rescue, and their history. He also bases his decision on the needs of that particular rescue. Scano says that he wants to keep each design unique, and the way to do that is to only feature it once. Once it has been the design of the month, it is retired from the club forever. That way, each design has its own, very special monthly feature, and hopefully never forgotten by those who wore it and those who saw it.
Rescues Scano’s club has featured
When Jim Scano first started out, he was the one contacting rescues and explaining his club’s goals. He would ask them if they would please participate and cooperate with his mission. Today, much later, there are lots of rescues contacting him and asking to be participants of his plan. They know it’s an effective way of raising money. Some of the rescues he’s featured include, K9 Services German Shepherd Rescue in Florida, Astasia’s Angels in Texas, and Carolina Hearts Aussie Rescue.
What does the future hold for the Dog Rescue Shirt Club?
So far, all thanks to the many supporters of the Dog Rescue Shirt Club, the club has been fortunate enough to raise about $5,000 just in the past 12 months. And this includes throughout the entire nation. Scano’s love for dogs and his dedication to helping those who are in need, are what drives him to keep going full force with his mission and the Dog Rescue Shirt Club. He’s hoping it will catch on even more over time, and more members will join and help him in his mission to help dogs find their forever homes.
Scano had this to say, “Although I’m not involved in rescue dogs on a professional level, I have raised dogs all my life. Several of those were from rescues,” he says. “I’ve also fostered dogs until they were placed in their forever homes.”
Scano has the belief that there will be a time when the Dog Rescue Shirt Club will be able to easily raise and donate more than $5000 in a year. He believes that it will grow to where there are thousands of dollars donated each month to featured rescues.
Scano went on to say, “Our subscribers love what we do and the high-quality T-shirts they receive,” he says. “They enjoy knowing that a portion of their membership goes back directly to the featured rescue.”
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