An Airdrie Father has been working tirelessly to make sure that no grad goes without a suit for their big day.

Mike Reist started a campaign recently with the Airdrie Dads Facebook Group in hopes of collecting donations for students who need a suit for their Grad.

Airdrie's Mike Reist has been collecting donations for grad suits for nearly two months (Photo Courtesy: Lori Reist)

Reist explained where he got the idea for the campaign.

“A couple grads ago I had a single mom approach me and ask me if I had a suit to borrow. Of course, I didn’t have one but I told her to give me five to ten minutes and I’ll post to the Airdrie Dads and within a couple days we were able to raise $500 for that student. This year I decided to jump in with both feet and make this a big thing for us today.”

Reist said work restrictions kept him away from doing this last year but he was able to start it up again less than two months ago.

He said the support has been outstanding.

“I started off with a goal of $1000 to have at least two or three kids from one school to get fitted for a custom fit grad suit that they can keep. Right now, I just raised over $5000 in six weeks.”

Most of that money came through bottle drives put on by members of the Airdrie Dads group.

Reist continues to reach out to High School principals and their Grad Committees to find out which students need suits.

He said there are many grad students who are unable to afford them.

“Chances are an 18 year old is not going to come forward and say ‘I need a suit’. I talked to one of the school’s at the beginning of the school year, they were saying that about 70 kids can’t afford Grad Dinner tickets. Right there, that was an indication of how many people that may need suits.”

Reist hopes to hold an event where he can distribute different suits to any high school student who needs them.

 

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