Since t-shirts are the name of their game, several Big Frog franchisees are harnessing their custom swag here in the US to help the people of war-torn Ukraine.
Debbie Galvez already wanted her shop, Big Frog Custom T-Shirts & More in Selden, N.Y. on Long Island, to help the Ukrainian efforts when she saw a news story about Tom Birkoff, a Long Island man who was adopted at age 12 from Ukraine…by a friend of Debbie’s. Of course, she recognized Tom and thought, “what a perfect way to simultaneously support a local friend as well as help strangers nearly 5,000 miles away.” One of the Big Frog designers created a shirt and Tom created one as well…the black “I Stand with Ukraine” shown in the photos.
In North Carolina, Keat and Kyle Perkins own and operate the Big Frog Custom T-Shirts & More in North Raleigh and, like so many others, they felt helpless and wanted to do something. Since 2018, they’ve actively supported local community causes like breast cancer, fun runs and various expos, it was a natural to mobilize t-shirts to help a war-torn community thousands of miles away. Kyle shows the “Stand With Ukraine” shirt benefits the “Voices of Children Foundation.”
Community support is foundational at Big Frog and its t-shirt fundraisers are a hugely popular facet of the franchise business model. In addition to Raleigh and Selden, a slew of other shops are also doing Ukraine fundraisers including (at this writing) Colleyville, Bellaire and Sugarland, Texas; Reno, Nev.; and South Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.