The T-shirts designed by Long are available in black and white and cost $25 each.
The National Honor Society at Clay-Battelle Middle/High School have teamed with Morgantown designer Jamie Long to create and sell T-shirts to raise money for a koala hospital in Australia.
“One of the reasons we’re doing this is that the students have been talking about it,” said Laura DeBiase, a Clay-Battelle English and theater teacher who also sponsors the school’s National Honor Society.
“They’ve been very upset about the loss of wildlife.”
Through her second job as a waitress at Morgantown Flour and Feed, DeBiase became friends with Long, who also works as a waitress at the restaurant. It was Long — who has an Etsy shop called MoonLotus by Jamie — who thought to design and sell a T-shirt with all of the proceeds going to the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital in New South Wales, Australia, a wildlife rescue center.
Wildfires in Australia, which is in the midst of its worst drought in years, have burned an area roughly the size of West Virginia, mostly in the states of Victoria and New South Wales in the southeastern portion of the country. It is estimated half a billion animals have been killed in the fires.
The T-shirts designed by Long are available in black and white and cost $25 each. The front of the shirt is the outline of Australia in black with the words “SAVE THE KOALAS,” in front. A mother koala and her baby are hanging on the right side of the country.
“I wanted a design that showed our support,” said Long, who is making the T-shirts herself.
To date, roughly 80 shirts have been sold by DeBiase’s National Honor Society students and roughly $2,000 has been raised by students in one week. The shirts will likely continue to be sold through mid-February, Long said.
All of the sales proceeds — minus Long’s expenses — will go to the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital. To purchase a T-shirt, contact Long at moonlotusart@gmail.com.
“I have been very impressed with the drive of the students,” DeBiase said. “They have jumped in head first with this.”
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