For the sixth year, industry suppliers joined forces to raise money for charity at the annual SCREENPRINTING & GRAPHIC IMAGING ASSOCIATION Convention Oct. 15-18 in Atlanta. This year, the event raised an estimated $40,000 for the Music Maker Foundation, a Hillsborough, N.C., nonprofit organization that helps the pioneers of Southern music gain recognition and meet their day-to-day needs.

The fundraiser, coordinated by Rick Roth, president of Pawtucket, R.I.-based screen printer MIRROR IMAGE, involved printing some 3,000 commemorative T-shirts, and selling them for $5 during the show.

"SGIA goes to a lot of different cities and that's great for the city because they get the business, but it's nice to leave a little extra behind," Roth says.

The shirts feature five designs inspired by Southern blues artists. Henderson Bromstead, a Winston-Salem, N.C. ad agency, prepared and donated the artwork, and the shirts were printed on an MHM SP3000. Several industry leaders contributed to the fundraising effort, including Hanes, MHM, Rutland, Stretch Devices, Olec, KIWO, and SGIA.

This story ran on page 10 of IMPRESSIONS Magazine December 2003.