Blue Jackets fan podcast, apparel brand raise over $90,000 for Gaudreau family
Over the last two weeks, the Columbus and hockey communities have rallied around the Gaudreau family after the deaths of Blue Jackets player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew.
On Aug. 29, the day before their sister's planned wedding, the Gaudreau brothers were killed while riding bikes in Oldmans Township, New Jersey. Police say they were hit by a suspected drunk driver in an SUV.
Matthew and his widow, Madeline, were expecting their first child. Johnny's widow, Meredith, announced she was pregnant with the couple's third child during the funeral service for the brothers.
More: Memorializing Johnny, Matthew Gaudreau: 'We’ve been robbed of something here today'
A GoFundMe page set up by Holland Korbitz, Madeline's sister, has raised over $775,000 to support the grieving widow and her "growing baby Tripp" in under two weeks.
No individual or organization has donated more than CBJ Artillery, a Blue Jackets fan podcast that partnered with Columbus Apparel Co. for a fundraiser that raised over $90,000.
The podcast and local apparel brand announced a limited set of "Johnny Hockey"-branded hoodies and T-shirts for sale, with 100% of proceeds going to the family's GoFundMe page. Within a week – from that Sept. 1 announcement to the initial closing of sales on Sept. 7 – they had raised $92,080.
Tom Summers, founder and owner of Columbus Apparel Co., said he felt "overwhelmed" by the outpouring of support – and not only from the local community.
"We absolutely have gotten orders and messages from all over the globe," he said. "It hasn't just been Columbus."
Plans for a standard apparel partnership become something more
The story of how the fundraiser came together in the first place is a story about a community coming together.
According to Summers, he and the Artillery had already been in communication about Columbus Apparel Co. creating new merchandise for the podcast and its fans. When tragedy struck for the Gaudreau family, the Artillery saw a big opportunity to help.
"They reached out, and we talked about doing a T-shirt for just a small fundraiser," Summers said. "They knew about the GoFundMe, so they reached out to us, asked us to help them out there.
"We wanted to help. We're all about Columbus – we love it here – a lot of what we do is Columbus-themed. ... We do a lot of fundraising and a lot of donating to other causes. That's kind of our thing, that's what we get excited about. So we were 100% on board."
Finalizing the fundraising plans
Before launching the sale, the partners went back and forth to decide how the apparel would look. After going through about a dozen different designs, they ultimately landed on a simple one: a big #13 (Johnny Gaudreau's jersey number for the Blue Jackets) next to Gaudreau's "Johnny Hockey" nickname and a pair of crossed hockey sticks underneath.
"Everything just came back to just keeping it real simple, and that's kind of how we landed on it," Summers said.
To further sweeten the deal, Summers and Columbus Apparel Co. came up with an extra giveaway in the hopes of convincing more potential purchasers (and fundraiser donors). For every piece of apparel that someone bought, they'd also receive a #13 "rally towel," an extra piece of merchandise that fans could bring to Nationwide Arena – home of the Blue Jackets – and wave around to show off their team spirit.
"Not knowing what [the fundraiser] was going to grow to," Summers laughs, "we offered to do that. So far, we've ended up sending out over $46,000 in towels. That's been a pretty cool part of it. Should be neat to see this season."
Re-opening the sale
Initially, the planned sale was for only a week. Both the Artillery and Columbus Apparel Co. were unsure how long the GoFundMe page would be open for donations and didn't want to lose the chance to donate.
"They didn't want to continue sales beyond that when the original commitment was to the GoFundMe for Madeline and Tripp," Summers said.
The initial apparel sale period closed after about a week, and the Artillery announced Tuesday that they had raised a total of $92,080 over that span.
"SPEECHLESS. When we set out to help raise funds for Madeline and Tripp, we could never have imagined the overwhelming response we received," they wrote in a post on social media website X. "However, we’re not surprised — the Gaudreau family means so much to the hockey community. Our donation has officially been made, and we can't thank you enough for your generosity and support."
But after that announcement, messages started to roll in. Many people had only started to hear about the sale after it had ended and hoped for another chance to buy a T-shirt or hoodie and donate to the cause.
As news of the fundraising efforts continued to spread, the response from hopeful, potential donors grew louder as even more messages came in.
On Tuesday night, 12 hours after announcing the final total from the week of sales before, the Artillery announced the sale would reopen.
While they say they're unsure how long the GoFundMe will remain open, they assured potential donors that they'd find a way to continue to send all proceeds to the Gaudreaus.
"[B]ecause of the response today, we've decided to reopen sales," they wrote on X. "Regardless, we're still sending everything to the Gaudreau family."
The CBJ Artillery did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets podcast raises over $90,000 for Gaudreau family GoFundMe