June 26, 2009
On Thursday, June 25, Vancouver was the first of 10 cities hit by the cross-Canada "GOT Ginch?" drive. Union Gospel Mission was chosen as the Vancouver charity to receive 2,500 of the 25,000 pairs of underwear donated for Canada's homeless. A total of 10 cities from will be descended upon in 10 days, providing those in need with a year's supply of underwear. The drive is the brain-child of Calgary entrepreneur, Brent King. During the 2008 Christmas season, King decided he would use his talents and contacts to benefit the larger community. After perusing a local charity's wish list, he decided to provide men's underwear to the Mustard Seed in Calgary and Edmonton. He enlisted his friend Douglas to arrange the manufacture and delivery of thousands of pairs of underwear. Douglas was happy to donate his time but suggested that King also include Vancouver, his hometown.After Vancouver was added, King discovered the value of involving other friends and family in his vision as they clamored to get involved, causing the project to expand even further.
"The personal aspect was: 'If you guys are willing to put up the money then I'll do the driving, and I'll take this across the country,'" explains King. "A lot of people sort of took that as a challenge to see how far they could send me." And suddenly, the Western Canada event became a cross-country philanthropy endeavor spanning Vancouver to Halifax.
"The type of person I am, I like to have a problem that I can see and get a grip on, something tangible, something I could say was done," he says.
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