Last month, early Thursday morning of the Outdoor Retailer tradeshow in Denver, employees from Klean Kanteen began receiving messages from their friends and family about an approaching fire back home in California. By noon the Camp Fire had grown to thousands of acres and all of Paradise was under a general evacuation order. Employees scrambled to get home, but in many cases it was too late. In the end 13 employees at Klean Kanteen lost their homes.
In the midst of this tragedy, the outdoor industry rallied to support those in need. A GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $160,000 to date. On Giving Tuesday, an additional $110,000 was raised for fire victims from the sale of a limited-edition Klean Kanteen “Butte Strong” bottle.
“We are overwhelmed with gratitude from the outpouring of support,” said Jim Osgood, CEO of Klean Kanteen. “We have well surpassed our fundraising goal for our 13 employees who lost homes, so the additional funds will all be funneled to the United Way Camp Fire Relief Fund to help others in our community. We thank everyone who has donated time, money and gear to help our employees and our community get back on their feet.”
Helping support and promote Klean’s relief efforts, footwear brand KEEN committed $22,000 in matching donation grants during the campaign. Other generous donations poured in from Klean’s industry friends and partners, international distributors, factory partners and even competitor, Miir. Brands including Lowa Boots, Clif Bar, Bogs, Obermeyer, Ten Tree, Brooks, Big Agnes, Honey Stinger, Smartwool, Salomon, Sierra Nevada, Subaru, Sherpa, Thule and over fifteen others contributed gear and food.
Ongoing clean-up and rebuilding efforts continue in Butte County. To donate to the Klean Kanteen Camp Fire Relief Fund through the Golden Valley Bank Community Foundation please use this link Klean Kanteen Camp Fire Relief Fund please choose “Donate with Debit or Credit Card.”
