E40FDNYL35
04-09-2005, 08:31 PM
Saturday, April 9, 2005 --In the days after the World Trade Center attack, Murray Merkley devised a plan to help the families of the 343 New York City firefighters who died on Sept. 11, 2001. His North York-based hat-manufacturing company designed a baseball cap with the soon-to-be-famous "FDNY" logo and the crossed flags of Canada and the United States. Then it enlisted local firefighters to help sell them, with the promise that a portion of the proceeds would go to a Fire Department of New York charity.
What started in a few Toronto fire stations soon caught on with chains such as Canadian Tire and National Sports. The Toronto Maple Leafs even got involved, inviting firefighters to sell caps at the Air Canada Centre during their Dec. 8, 2001, game with the New York Rangers. That one night saw 2,418 hats sold.
By the time the campaign wound down in March, 2002, more than 44,000 caps had sold, raising $291,021. That's the good news.
The bad news is that the New York Fire Fighters 9-11 Disaster Relief Fund hasn't received a cent from Merkley Headgear.
The fire stations that collected money directly sent their share -- about $160,000 -- to the 9/11 fund. But the company that launched the initiative has never handed over the $130,000 it made, even though its owners still use pictures of the FDNY ball caps in marketing efforts -- as well as a shot of a group of about 200 former employees perched on a fire truck in Toronto.
What started in a few Toronto fire stations soon caught on with chains such as Canadian Tire and National Sports. The Toronto Maple Leafs even got involved, inviting firefighters to sell caps at the Air Canada Centre during their Dec. 8, 2001, game with the New York Rangers. That one night saw 2,418 hats sold.
By the time the campaign wound down in March, 2002, more than 44,000 caps had sold, raising $291,021. That's the good news.
The bad news is that the New York Fire Fighters 9-11 Disaster Relief Fund hasn't received a cent from Merkley Headgear.
The fire stations that collected money directly sent their share -- about $160,000 -- to the 9/11 fund. But the company that launched the initiative has never handed over the $130,000 it made, even though its owners still use pictures of the FDNY ball caps in marketing efforts -- as well as a shot of a group of about 200 former employees perched on a fire truck in Toronto.