When Joey McKenney woke up to the reports of devastating flooding in several Eastern Kentucky communities, he knew he had to help.
After all, his business Appalachian Apparel Co. in Hazard, Kentucky, has been successfully fundraising for various causes since its founding in 2017.
"Seeing so many of our friends who lost everything and people that we knew were missing ... Just seeing the desperation of people who had been completely devastated by losing everything, we knew that this was going to be another time for us to step in and start raising money," McKenney said.
At first, McKenney, a resident of Viper, Kentucky, hoped he could raise at least $5,000 to help relief efforts by donating 100% of the profits from the sales of two of the company's screen-printed T-shirts. Maybe, he thought, the company could exceed its previous fundraising records and bring in $10,000 as a long-term goal.
But only hours after the links to the shirts went live, Appalachian Apparel Co. rocketed past $10,000, jumping up to $30,000, then $50,000 in just 24 hours.
"My phone, for probably five solid hours, was going off nonstop with new orders coming in," McKenney said. "Somebody brought it to my attention that Mike Rowe from 'Dirty Jobs' had posted the link."
Rowe, known for his work on the Discovery Channel series "Dirty Jobs" and the series "Somebody's Gotta Do It," has nearly six million followers on Facebook. His post, which mentioned Appalachian Apparel Co.'s fundraising effort, has more than 140,000 reactions, 57,000 shares and nearly 9,000 comments.
"Another day later and we were at $75,000 ... That evening before we went to bed, I was like, 'Oh, this is going to take a lot of work,'" McKenney said.
From hobbyist to entrepreneur
McKenney was introduced to the screen printing business as a high schooler while working for Sportworld in Hazard. About two decades later when that business was closing, McKenney, then a full-time nurse, decided to buy the equipment to pursue screen printing as a hobby in 2017 — but people quickly latched on to the idea.
"I always had the idea to highlight the artists of the Appalachian region and put their artwork onto shirts that could be sold all over the world, versus just having a few prints to sell or having like one piece to sell somewhere," he said. "From the get go, it really caught on. People really bought into the idea of using local artists to design shirts for this brand that really put a spotlight on Appalachia, the culture, the history and the outdoors."
For a while, McKenney would work his shift as a nurse, and then come home and print shirts until 2 a.m. and then do it all over again the next day.
It wasn't until the business, which has a shop on Main Street in Hazard, was opening a second location in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, that McKenney decided to leave his nursing career during the pandemic to pursue the entrepreneurial endeavor full time.
'We're still gonna be here'
Appalachian Apparel Co.'s first fundraiser was for a local child battling cancer. McKenney said he had the idea to make a shirt where 100% of its profits would go towards supporting the family.
"We don't charge for our time, for labor or anything like that," he explained. "It's like whatever our cost is on the shirts taken away from the total amount sold, and that's that's the amount of money that we will give back. We've done — I don't know — a lot of fundraisers over the last four-and-a-half years, but nothing has ever reached the level that this one has. It's been pretty incredible."
So far, Appalachian Apparel Co. has raised more than $150,000, with more than 6,000 orders to be shipped out as of late last week. That's a lot for a small family-owned and operated business that normally sends out about 300 packages a month.
Fortunately, community volunteers and other printing companies stepped in to help. Print My Threads in Flatwoods, Kentucky, and Gaddco Group in Campbellsville, Kentucky, have been donating their time and ink to assist with the high demand.
McKenney said Appalachian Apparel Co. will likely pause the fundraising efforts while it catches up on current orders, but he has a long-term vision for how the business can continue to serve its community as the recovery will take months, if not years.
"We're forming a board and our own nonprofit to be able to disperse this money over time where it's needed to continue to meet those needs," he said. "Once all the other help has left, and the national media attention has gone away, we're still gonna be here to help people."
For more information on Appalachian Apparel Co. click here.
