When tragedies happen, college students are often some of the first to spring to action. That’s the case with Emerson College (MA) student Reagan Allen who is from Texas. She took the fact that a character in the popular Netflix show “Stranger Things” wore a 1980’s-era Emerson College t-shirt and she turned it into a fundraiser to support those impacted by the Uvalde, Texas school shooting. Allen recreated the logo, opened fundraising sales using the platform Bonfire and received over $1,000 in sales within 20 minutes. She has raised over $25,000.

About the shirts, Allen told Boston.com, “I had the idea of selling them as a fundraiser for Uvalde because that’s what I’ve been thinking about all week. It seems like the obvious place to donate the money.”

“It got posted on the Emerson Class of 2026 page and so many freshmen had reached out to me saying they’re so excited about this fundraiser, that they’re so excited to enter a community of people that are so supportive, so fiercely of something like this,” Allen said. “That to me has been the most rewarding thing about this, getting to talk to people just about how excited they are about the impact of this campaign.”

Read more about one student’s efforts here.