Local woman raises money for Brandon Bear Clan

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/10/2022 (1236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Brandon woman has found a way to embrace truth and reconciliation by raising money for the Brandon Bear Clan Patrol.

Kellie Addison, who has called Brandon home for 30 years, will present Brandon Bear Clan with a cheque for $1,400 after vinyl-printing and selling orange shirts for Orange Shirt Day, also known as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Addison began making T-shirts for her eight-year-old twins for special occasions such as the first day of school and birthdays. She said that last year she decided to make some for Orange Shirt Day and reached out to the community via Facebook groups to see which organization she should donate the proceeds to.

“I asked in my own personal Facebook which Indigenous group would be a good one to donate to, and a lot of people said Bear Clan.”

Last year, Addison donated $470 to the local group, an Indigenous-led, grassroots organization that celebrated five years of performing patrols in downtown Brandon in June.

This year, Addison said, she wanted to challenge herself to see if she could do even more for the group.

“I kind of challenged myself this year to see if we could break that record, and boy, it exploded,” she said.

Addison placed an order for around 300 shirts, posting that she would be vinyl printing them and selling them to various Facebook marketplace groups in Brandon. She quickly sold close to 250 of them. She then placed an order in August for more shirts from a wholesaler and more vinyl, to the tune of around $850.

It was then, Addison said, that the real work began. Already busy running a home daycare, she said she spent days making the shirts while the children napped or in the evenings.

“Lots of days I didn’t sit down all day, and lots of late nights I was up until one, two o’clock in the morning. Last Friday night, I stayed up all night … slept for three hours, got up, kept going all day Saturday, all day Sunday.”

Addison continued to work on the shirts on Monday and Tuesday, and made her last shirt Wednesday evening. After that, she said, she sat down with a glass of wine.

“I made 744 shirts in the last three weeks … I have about 40 or 50 shirts that haven’t been picked up. My house [has looked] like an orange shirt sweatshop for the last three weeks,” Addison said, adding she’s been ordering takeout to feed her family because her kitchen has been totally taken over by shirt-making.

Addison sold the shirts for $10, and after covering the costs of the shirts and the vinyl, the rest went to Brandon Bear Clan.

Despite all of the hard work and late nights, Addison said making the shirts was something she really enjoyed. It’s her way, she added, of giving back to the community and the Indigenous people of Treaty 2 Territory, where she lives.

“I don’t have time for volunteer work or anything like that, so I guess it’s just my way of giving to the community a little bit.”

Addison’s message to other people who want to get involved with truth and reconciliation but aren’t sure how is to “learn all you can” about the history of colonization.

“No child asks to be born a certain race. Nobody gets to choose what race they’re born, what gender they’re born, anything, so just accept everybody for who they are, no matter what colour of skin or differences [you have],” Addison said. “Just be kind.”

Addison’s husband’s Mark said he is “very proud” of his wife.

“She’s worked very, very hard on it,” he said. “There’s been a lot of sleepless nights.”

Non-Indigenous people understand and are trying to help in truth and reconciliation, Mark added, pointing to the work his wife has done to raise money for the Bear Clan.

“We travel downtown, and we see people that are definitely needing some help,” he said. “We can’t physically do it ourselves, but maybe can help those who can provide help directly.”

Despite numerous attempts over two days to contact the Brandon Bear Clan, including via the group’s Facebook page, email, text messages and phone calls, no one from the group responded to the Sun’s request for comment by press time.

» mleybourne@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @miraleybourne