The Aggie Foundation says custom printer Jūpmode told them to “tone down” a proposed design for the Here for Good fundraiser.
TOLEDO, Ohio. A Toledo nonprofit that funds abortion services for low-income women is outraged after a fundraising T-shirt design for a local screen printing shop was rejected.
The Here forever campaign is a fundraiser/promotion that Jūpmode runs annually where $10 is donated to a local small business when a customer purchases one of Jūpmode’s special t-shirts.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, Aga Foundation revealed the design of the shirt they unveiled for the fundraiser: a play on the famous “You’ll be better off in TOLEDO,” but with the text “You’ll Fund abortions in TOLEDO”.
The company says that Jūpmode told them that their design would not be allowed unless it was “softened”.
Christine Headey of the Aggie Fund told WTOL 11 on Saturday that the nonprofit has participated in Here for Good fundraisers in the past and has never shied away from advancing its mission.
“It’s especially frustrating for us when we’re literally being told to tone it down. It tells us to tone down what we’re doing. It tells us to humble ourselves. It tells us to minimize ourselves,” Headey said. “Frankly, we let anti-abortion organizations, people and opinions define our messaging, and we’re not willing to compromise.”
Jūpmode responded to the Aggie Foundation’s Facebook post on their Facebook page, writing:
“The Agnes Reynolds Foundation has participated in the Here For Good campaign for the past several years and was a welcome partner again this year. We hoped that the talks could be extended to find a compromise on the requested design. Our purpose at Here for Good is to support the community, and we greatly respect the work of the Agnes Reynolds Foundation. We do not intend to make further public comments.”
It is not yet clear what exactly Jūpmode found objectionable about the design.
The Aggie Fund’s t-shirt design for last year’s Here for Good fundraiser used similar wording, with the words “I FUND ABORTION” along with the organization’s logo.
The Aggie Foundation was named after Agnes Reynolds Jackson, who co-founded the Toledo Center for Fair Housing in 1975.
https://www.wtol.com/article/news/local/pro-choice-organization-takes-odds-with-local-screen-printer-over-t-shirt-design/512-f9eb2fd4-68b9-405d-b73b-1418f8cfe92f
