As the second consecutive year of the “I Support…” program draws to a close, Gildan is pleased to announce that the following charities have been selected to receive donations from Gildan for their demonstration of Genuine Stewardship:

Our Little Roses Foreign Mission Society – recipient of the Genuine Stewardship award of $50,000

Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society – recipient of the Impact award of $20,000

Amizade Global Service-Learning – recipient of the Sustainability award of $10,000

Camp DreamCatcher– recipient of the Accountability award of $10,000

YESIWUAH, Inc. - recipient of the People’s Choice award of $10,000

Similar to last year’s program, Gildan reached out to individuals from the apparel and promotional products industry via their Facebook presence to ask “Who do YOU support?” to generate nominations for charities that are having a genuine positive impact in the communities they serve.  A top 10 was determined based on the number of votes each nominated charity received, with a panel of judges then using the charities’ responses to a questionnaire to determine which of the 10 would receive donations from Gildan.  The selection of the final five was based on each charities demonstration of the characteristics of Accountability, Sustainability and Impact, lynchpins to the Gildan Genuine Stewardship philosophy that serves as the impetus for the “I Support…” program.

As a new feature to the “I Support…” program in 2011, Gildan also provided Gildan Good Cards to industry members who nominated a charity for consideration.  The Good Card® allowed recipients to direct a Gildan funded $50 donation to the registered 501(c)3 charity of their choice.  Good Card® redemptions resulted in an additional $100,000 in charitable donations to over 90 different charities representing a variety of causes from youth health and education to environmental welfare.  In total, the Gildan “I Support…” program contributed $200,000 to charity in 2011.

“We are pleased that in year 2 of the “I Support…” program we were able to positively impact a greater number of charities”, said Garry Bell, Vice President Global Marketing for Gildan Activewear. “Not only did our panel of judges select some very deserving charities but through the Good Card® donations we were also able to reflect our industry and customers’ concerns in our philanthropic endeavors.”