Young Entrepreneurs “Rise Up” for Post-Sandy Disaster Relief

Posted by laney liner, November 12, 2012 at 09:02 pm

Sandy is said to be one of the worst storms to hit Long Island since the 1930’s. Many individuals are without shelter, food, clothing and/or electrical power.

Passenger Project (PassengerProject.org) is coming to the rescue. It’s a charitable business with a mission to make it EASY for everyone to give back while WEARING their support, literally.

Co-Founder Kevin Ciminelli developed the idea of Passenger Project as his senior thesis project while attending Adelphi University in Garden City, NY. As the idea came to fruition he engaged his four other friends (all under the age of 23) to future nurture the idea: Ian Borneman (Wantagh High School Graduate and NYIT Alum), Mike Califano (Wantagh High School Graduate and Adelphi University Alum), Hannah Griesel (Calhoun High School Graduate and Nassau Community College Student) and Jake Schaefer (Wantagh High School Graduate).  The business launched on July 4th, 2012.

Passenger Project’s tagline is “Look Good, Do Good”. They design and then hand screen-print apparel in New York. With every purchase, 50% of the net proceeds are donated to 1 to 5 charities. The charities are selected each month based on the pre-planed category and are found organically or submitted by Passenger Project supporters for review. Each charity is vetted extensively.

In October they raised funds for the American Heart Association.   In November, due to the devastation hurricane Sandy created in their hometown of New York and other east coast states, they created merchandise to support the American Red Cross with their latest design called “Rise Up -- Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief”.
Individuals in New York and across the United States who are looking for ways to help can now WEAR their support by visiting their online store, which can be found at www.passengerproject.org. These items will be available for 3-5 months.

Passenger Project team members dedicate endless hours to vetting the charities to support, creating designs, and printing their merchandise.  They also have Passenger Project branded merchandise that is released in seasonal clothing lines that also contributes to their monthly cause.   In little over four months of being online, Passenger Project has already donated over $8,600.00 to charity.

If you want to learn more about Passenger Project and/or volunteer, please visit their website at: PassengerProject.org, email them at info@PassengerProject.org or contact Kevin Ciminelli at 516.476.6764.