Grimey the art brand is organizing a toy drive this December 12th, 6 pm, at Café Barbossa, 3956 A St Laurent Blvd, Montreal. There will be a toy drive drop-off spot, DJs, drinks, food and supporters’ goods for sale.
A portion of the profits from merchandise sold will go to a GoFundMe page that will donate to two charities. Half of the GoFundMe page will be going to NBS Studios, which is a youth recording studio. The other half of donations will be going to Batshaw, a youth center. All toys donated will be given to Montreal youth through the Sun Youth Organization. 
Masterpiece Kitchen, a healthy and tasty catering company, will be giving away a baked goods package towards Batshaw youth center. EDT Productions, a production company run by Rising Star’s Co-founder Nicolas Kara, will be giving away a music video to a young musician through NBS studios. Rising Star is sponsoring the event and taking care of the online GoFundMe page. Dutty Dario will be selling prints and giving a portion of his sales to the GoFundMe page.
Thomas Papakostas, Grimey’s founder, said that the event will help Montreal’s youth. “Since, we’re really focused on community and people who support us and get the whole mentality of Grimey. We decided to do something where we could really give back in a bigger way” Papakostas said. He used to participate in toy drives when he was a kid. Since the idea also fits within the brand and focuses on youth, he decided to organize one with Grimey.
Grimey will be giving 50% of their profits from T-shirts specially made for the event, to the two charities ’ GoFundMe page. Grimey will also relaunch old fan favourite items, in different colours.
“We have a collective of musicians associated with the brand. And one of our artists, Yama Sato, he’s been working there [at NBS Studios] since he was a teenager. It’s just a really good environment for people to go, explore sounds and make music in ways that they probably couldn’t without that studio” Papakostas said when explaining how he chose NBS studios as one of the charities. He hopes to grow Grimey as a brand alongside musicians in the Montreal music scene.
Barbossa, the bar where the event is located, will be donating a portion of drink sales from the night to the GoFundMe page.
Rising Star chose Batshaw, a Youth center and youth protection center as a charity to be donated to per the GoFundMe page. One of Rising Star’s founders; Jordan Karab works there.
“I work with kids at Batshaw. I’m involved in a lot when it comes to dealing with kids. It keeps me very humble, that job. That’s why I still keep it to this day. I’ve been working there for three-plus years. Every time I’m getting ready to go to work, I am grateful that I have a spot there for me to shed some light on some of those kids. Even if it’s one conversation that I have with a kid. I feel like my involvement with them has an impact. Just feeding them positive energy. Feeding them motivation. Giving them experiences.” Karab said. “Because it’s not easy being where they are, and not having the extra support that a lot of us do have, which is family. So, there’s a lot to compensate for that. It just keeps me humble. I relate to a lot of those kids through what they’ve been through and how they’ve been raised.”
Karab’s work at Batshaw inspired him to include Batshaw donations on the event’s GoFundMe page. Batshaw offers many services to youth in need including: social services, adoption, court aid, centres, activities, group homes and youth protection. Karab works first-hand with children there and sees what they need. “I could definitely go out of my way and do something for them. They were the first people that crossed my mind when I spoke to Tom [Papakostas]” Karab said.
A portion of the donations on the event’s GoFundMe page will also go to buying a keyboard or a turntable as a special requested Christmas present to a child at the Batshaw center. “… using our platform [Rising Star] to help out is big for us. And I’ve always seen the youth as the future for everyone, for this world, and putting an impact on the youth can change a lot. I feel it has more of an impact doing something for the youth than doing something for the upper age group, the adults or the seniors. Just because they are the future” Karab said.
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