Save Second Base

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Save Second Base (picture from laughingsquid.com)

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uploaded by BigT

Two girls, Haley and Jessica, had a great idea. They figured out a way to raise thousands of dollars for breast cancer charities. They were getting orders for their t-shirts from all over the country and were well on their way to raising $10,000 in honor of their mothers; Haley's mother has died from breast cancer while Jessica's mom is a breast cancer survivor.

You would think that everyone would be behind these two high school girls. They have taken the initiative and are raising money for a great cause. Unfortunately their campaign has come under attack on two fronts: their school and a breast cancer foundation.

See, the problem is that the t-shirts have a picture of a baseball that is placed over each breast with a caption below it that says "Save 2nd Base." After wanting to sell these shirts at a school football game they were told to take their business elsewhere. To the school the shirts were too suggestive and weren't suitable for a high school.

Everything seemed to work out for the better when the local paper, the Salina Journal, set up an order form on their website so people could buy the shirts online. This is how the girls started raising thousands of dollars because this story caught fire. But it also caused the other shoe to drop. 

The other shoe came from a breast cancer foundation. The girls had copied the same design that the Rooney Foundation uses to raise money for the same cause (see picture for this article for Rooney shirt) and after they thought they had received permission from the foundation to use the design they were told to stop. According to one of the Rooney Foundation's workers (who is the sister of the woman for whom the foundation is named after) they had to stop selling the shirts even after they thought they got support for their actions.

[There] "was a miscommunication with trademark use," and [she]
explained that securing the trademark had cost tens of thousands of
dollars, and the foundation makes its money by selling those T-shirts
online worldwide.

The girls are now selling their remaining t-shirts locally and referring everyone from outside the area to go to the Rooney Foundation's website for the shirts.

These girls have lived through hell because of breast cancer. Jessica and Haley figured out a great way to honor their mothers by raising thousands of dollars by selling shirts with a catchy design. Even though they had to deal with a number of road blocks they have succeeded in their efforts because thousands more will know that October is breast cancer awareness month and they will donate money to help the cause. Good work girls.