Faith Food Pantry Fundraiser—

‘I Shot The Rooster’ T-Shirts Selling Quickly

By Shannon Hicks

There have been a few developments on the “I Shot The Rooster” T-shirt fundraiser for Faith Food Pantry.

Former Newtown resident Cheryl Hensel launched the project just a few weeks ago, working with her sister to create a T-shirt design that incorporates two familiar local landmarks. The women decided to use the rooster weathervane from atop Newtown Meeting House, and then added the  words “I Shot The Rooster But I did not steal the bumble BEE.” The first part of the wording make reference to local legend that Revolutionary War soldiers shot at the historic building’s weathervane while encamped in town in June–July 1781, while the latter refers to the theft of the bumblebee vane from atop The Bee Publishing Company’s office building.

Across the bottom of the shirt were the words “To Benefit FAITH 2012.”

The T-shirts were printed on stone blue Hanes T-shirts, with the lettering and rooster logo done in white, and were being sold to raise funds for Faith Food Pantry in Sandy Hook. Ms Hensel had planned to officially debut the shirts during Monday’s Labor Day Parade, but had said that she would be willing to take early orders from anyone who was interested in getting their shirts before September 3.

The first batch of shirts has just about sold out, Ms Hensel told The Bee this week. Orders have been received from many Newtown friends, and plenty of residents Ms Hensel has not yet even met, as well as from Florida, California, and Colorado.

“People around the country will be wearing these shirts and supporting Faith,” she said via email.

“As a result of the article that ran in The Bee … there was a wave of orders and a very interesting offer,” she added.

After reading about Ms Hensel’s project (“T-Shirts Will Bring Two Familiar Newtown Icons Together While Raising Funds For Food Pantry,” August 17, 2012), Alex Rankin contacted her and offered to donate and print another batch of T-shirts for the food pantry fundraiser.

Mr Rankin is a Newtown resident and the owner of Rankin Sporting Goods. Ms Hensel’s project fit right in to something the sporting goods equipment and screen printing and embroidery company has begun doing as well.

“It just seemed like someone was stepping up to help the community, and Rankin Sports has started trying to focus on local events, and local organizations,” Mr Rankin said Wednesday afternoon. “We are trying to work directly with the sporting and charitable organizations on what we can do to give back to the community. We try to sit down with the boards of these organizations to see what their needs are, and if we can help them in any way.”

For the food pantry/I Shot The Rooster T-shirts, the donation from Rankin Sporting Goods means an updated image of the original design. Mr Rankin already had access to the official rooster image, and The Bee Publishing Company provided him with an image of its weathervane, which has been added to the shirt’s design. He also changed the font, but has kept the color scheme of blue T-shirts (now on Gildan brand shirts, instead of Hanes) with white lettering.

“The results are terrific,” said Cheryl Hensel, who will be selling the shirts — both designs — along the parade route on Monday. Her spouse, Eniko Mikle, and mother, Victoria Hensel, have been enlisted to help. The trio may even bump into Alex Rankin, who said he usually watches the parade from the corner of Main Street at Sugar Street.

“We always go, every year,” he said.