The Flag Shop Celebrates Pink Shirt Day

On February 24th, also known as Pink Shirt Day, everything looked rosy at The Flag Shop. From coast to coast, Flag Shop employees slipped on their pink shirts and lined up for selfies.

Anti-Bullying movements are a big deal to us here so we like to do what we can to support the initiatives that come our way. Most recently we launched a school fundraising program that enables schools to spread the Anti-Bullying message while raising money for school initiatives. In the pink shirt photos below, you may even steal a peek of some of the anti-bullying products we carry.

Now without further ado, the parade of pink shirts!

First up were the early risers at The Flag Shop New Brunswick:

Then Le Flag Shop Montreal got in on the lutte contre l’intimidation:

The Flag Shop Winnipeg made Pink Shirt Day a family affair:

While the The Flag Shop Edmonton location felt some puppy love:

Last but not least, the The Flag Shop Head Office staff posed outside for a photo. There were lots of cars driving buy, so hopefully we served as a human billboard for the message.

 

HAPPY PINK SHIRT DAY EVERYONE!


Pink Shirt Day isn’t the only day that promotes the Anti-Bullying movement; next up is Day of Pink on April 13th and the United Nations Anti-Bulling Day on May 4th. For more information on Anti-Bullying initiatives and to learn more about our school fundraising program, visit www.antibullyingflag.ca.

A Celebration of Diversity in Moncton, NB

Is it the United Nations? No, it's the inclusive cafeteria at Evergreen Park Elementary School.

Is it the United Nations? No, it’s the inclusive cafeteria at Evergreen Park Elementary School.

For Evergreen Park Elementary in Moncton, N.B. flags go hand in in hand with every new school year. As New Brunswick becomes more culturally diverse, so do its students, and this school has found a great way to make new students feel welcome.

Adorning the walls of their cafeteria are flags of the world. Every flag represents a student or students that attend Evergreen and whose cultural heritage lies in another country. These flags serve to create a friendly environment for students and to remind everyone that Evergreen is an inclusive place that supports the ideals of multi-culturalism.

Madame Antigone Panagiotakis, the school’s principal, had this to say about the flag program:

“We are very pleased that Evergreen Park School’s student population is becoming increasingly diversified, with many international families choosing to make Evergreen Park School their home.  In order to welcome our international students, we decided to display their country’s flag. These flags celebrate our school’s multicultural flavor, create an inclusive environment, and prepare our students for today’s global community.”

The Province of New Brunswick has an official policy on multiculturalism which states:

“New Brunswick’s policy on multiculturalism strives for a unity which does not deny or eradicate diversity but which recognizes and transcends it. At the same time, it seeks to ensure that in acknowledging and appreciating cultural diversity, these differences, so accentuated, do not become a cause of discriminatory treatment to impede individuals in their desire to become an integral part of the larger community.”

The flags serve this initiative by visually accentuating the differences in culture while at the same time encouraging equality through hanging equally sized flags at equal heights in the same shared space. They also help to beautify a public space in the school, making it a more desirable community environment.

Great job Evergreen Park!!

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World flag collections are a great way to celebrate diversity in your community. To start your own international flag collection, visit the World Flag section of our online store.

UPDATE: The school has been featured by Global News!

We are wearing pink today!

Staff in our stores across the country wore pink for Pink Shirt Day (February 25th)!

The Flag Shop Vancouver donated 1,000 Anti-Bullying paper stick flags to I Am Someone‘s annual Walk2Talk event on February 22nd.

An anti-bullying flag from New Brunswick

Anti-bullying flag

Just in time for Pink Shirt Day on February 26th, Caledonia Regional student Grace Fenton designed the world’s first Pink Flag for Community Anti-bullying Awareness and Support. It was raised in both Hillsborough and Riverview, New Brunswick by the respective mayors.

The Flag Shop New Brunswick printed the 33″x72″ flag on 200d nylon and finished with grommets. Twelve flags were printed and are being handed to key people for photo ops with the hopes that the anti-bullying message will gain more traction across the country.

World Diabetes Day flag flies in New Brunswick

World Diabetes Day on November 14th raises awareness about diabetes and encourages advocacy and education about the disease. Its main theme for 2009 through 2013 has been education and prevention. The slogan for this year is “Diabetes: protect our future”.

In 2010, The Flag Shop New Brunswick made a flag for World Diabetes Day that is flown during the month of November in the communities of Dieppe, Moncton, and Riverview in New Brunswick. The 36″ x 72″ flag is printed on 200D nylon.

World Diabetes Day Flag - New Brunswick

New Brunswick earns a badge in banner making

A few months ago, the New Brunswick shop had put together a marketing campaign targeted to campgrounds. Part of that included a spiffy header image of a tent and three flags flying above it. Originally the three flags were Canada, New Brunswick, and Acadia, but after the St. Michael’s Scout troop saw it, they thought it would be great with the Scouts logo in place of the Acadian flag. Since we live to accommodate, we made a new version of the image just for them which was then printed on vinyl for their troop. They look pretty happy with it!

Banner for Saint Michaels Scouts

Banner for Saint Michaels Scouts

Spotlight on: New Brunswick – Acadian Flags

The Flag Shop has 13 franchises across Canada. Our New Brunswick store has this story to share about one of their biggest jobs.

Acadian flags are a pretty standard order in the New Brunswick Flag Shop – the second best seller behind Canadian flags, in fact, but orders for a 30 foot by 60 foot flag are anything but standard. When Saint-Louis-de-Kent decided to mark the 125th anniversary of the designing and adoption of the Acadian flag by ordering an impressively large Acadian flag, The Flag Shop and its manager Belinda Gagne had quite the challenge.

The challenge was two-fold – one, they had to make an unprecedentedly large flag, and two, they had to install an unprecedentedly large flag pole. The large Acadian flag – which has the same design as the French flag but with a gold star on the hoist side – was sewn together from many different panels and weighs over 60 pounds by itself. The flagpole needed to extend 130 feet in the air and have a great deal of concrete poured to support the weight of the seven ton shaft. It took several weeks to get the pole installed in time for the inaugural flag raising on November 8, 2009 which was greeted with much ceremony including a two weeks of festivities in the run up to the flag raising.

130 foot Flag Pole - New Brunswick Large Acadian Flag in New Brunswick

The large flag is put away every winter to protect it from the harsh weather and brought out again in the spring. It requires about fifteen people to keep the flag off of the ground while it is being raised. The Flag Shop New Brunswick has since made a second flag to reduce the amount of wear – a common concern with larger flags.

See some of the other work our New Brunswick store has done.