Floatees – An Advocacy Project
My goal for my community project is to raise awareness and funds for those whose livelihoods have been displaced by the Covid-19 pandemic in the Philippines. In October 2018, I began an advocacy campaign, Floatees, to raise awareness and funds for teenage suicide prevention in Hong Kong through the sale of shirts. Over the summer, I decided to relaunch this project but with this new aim and with a new product, hoodies.
During the first two weeks of July, I spent this time researching potential organizations to support, as well as coming up with designs for the hoodies. On July 21, I contacted the organization, Yes Pinoy, in the Philippines to share my project with them and hopefully receive their support. I learnt that their Covid-19 relief fund goes towards training unemployed entertainment workers and financially supporting small entrepreneurs as part of their long-term service plans. They were also very keen to support me with this project. In regards to the design, I was brainstorming several ones, but I decided to keep the same design as before as I felt it identified more with my brand.
I ordered the hoodies from a local supplier in Singapore and am expecting them around the third week of August. I also got in touch with several of my friends to ask if they would be willing to become ambassadors of the project and help me promote the hoodies and the cause. I am planning to launch the sale of the hoodies during the first week of September, and am planning to donate all profits raised to the organization. I will keep producing the hoodies for sale until I run out of orders to maximize my donations. On the Floatees social media account, I plan to inform my audience on the unemployment issue in the Philippines, and hopefully inspire people to make change for themselves.