In January 2017 we launched our We Care Wednesday initiative. By donating 5% of our sales each Wednesday, we were able to raise $9,000 for Greater Boston non-profits in 2017. This kind of targeted weekly giving is just another way we can focus our community-based business on doing good in all the ways we can. We are proud to continue this effort in 2018.
Supporting non-profits that continue doing the essential work needed in our communities is important to gather here and we think it's important to the people that shop, take classes, and spend time here. This March 2018 our We Care Wednesday recipient is: Stop Handgun Violence.
Stop Handgun Violence is a non-profit organization committed to the prevention of gun violence through education, public awareness, effective law enforcement and common sense gun laws. Since its start in 1994, Stop Handgun Violence has increased public awareness about the epidemic of gun violence. SHV developed several effective media and public education campaigns, the centerpiece of which is one of the largest billboards in the nation. If you've ever been on the Massachusetts Turnpike leaving or entering Boston over the past few years you have seen their billboard campaigns outside of Fenway Park.
After the Parkland shooting there has been a renewed call to action. It's always been there but something is different. Perhaps it's the voices of young people that refuse to be silenced. Perhaps it's our combined exhaustion and rage that after the shooting in Orlando. Then Las Vegas. And then Sutherland... those who represent us have done nothing to curb gun violence in our country. They have actually repealed laws that make it harder to obtain a firearm. We'll be marching in Boston on March 24, 2018 but we wanted to also donate to a local nonprofit that has been calling for action for over a decade.