RainbowYOUTH's joint initiative with HELL Pizza, which saw 3,000 t-shirts up for sale in support of LGBTQIA+ rights in Aotearoa, has raised a ‘game-changing' $75,000 and increased awareness of the issues facing one of the country's more vulnerable communities.

RainbowYOUTH communications manager and 2IC Toni Duder says HELL's involvement with the campaign has been ‘a game-changer' for the LGBTQIA+ charity.

'Not only does HELL's support mark a significant financial contribution for RainbowYOUTH, it also has given thousands of people the opportunity to show their support of the queer, gender diverse and intersex people in their lives,” says Toni.

'We're so grateful to the team at HELL for their commitment to this kaupapa. They have given us the capacity to sustain the life-saving work we already do and to reach more places around the country in support of our rangatahi.”

Fit to a tee:

For the campaign, limited-edition t-shirts bearing the slogan ‘The Only HELL I'm Going To' were sold online, with all proceeds donated by HELL to RainbowYOUTH.

HELL general manager Ben Cumming says the company was proud to help raise awareness of such an important issue facing Kiwi youth and wider New Zealand society.

'RainbowYOUTH is an inspiring organisation that does a lot for the LGBTIQA+ community, so when we were approached and asked for help, we instantly wanted to get involved and quickly came up with the idea of producing a t-shirt,” says Ben.

'Our goal was to have as many people as possible buy the t-shirts and wear them with pride to show their support, the outcome has been extremely positive.”

'We're really pleased to have helped RainbowYOUTH reach its fundraising target, and to have generated such a positive response from the many Kiwis who came out in support of this campaign.”

Ben says the campaign was a natural fit with the company's long-running activities in support of young Kiwis and families, who are ‘going through or have been through 'hell”.'

Where will the money go?

Toni says the money will be used to continue RainbowYOUTH's work ‘providing life-saving support, information and safe spaces to queer, gender diverse and intersex rangatahi.”

'The money will bolster our regional outreach, particularly where we work with rural communities to help create peer-support groups, to produce and distribute educational resources around sexuality and gender, and run workshops to up-skill local support workers around the challenges faced by our community.”

Speaking about the benefits of such regional support groups, one 18-year-old outreach leader says 'We have created a safe and welcoming space for youth to be themselves and talk to people within their community, and to talk about things that they felt they couldn't before.”

'I feel a sense of purpose running this group, and I feel a sense of comfort knowing that the group is helping not only myself, but many other people in their journey to accepting themselves.”