Put A Toque On It

One toque really can make a difference.

There are over 65,000 Canadian youth without a roof over their head. Raising the Roof is an organization that wants to but a cap (or a toque) on youth homelessness in Canada. In 2009, Raising the Roof partnered with Virgin Mobile and its Re*Generation initiative to create the Virgin Mobile Re*Generation Toque to warm your head, and do something good! All proceeds were donated to Raising the Roof's Youthworks Program.

Raising the Roof's partnership with Virgin Mobile has created many opportunities. Before Virgin got involved, the campaign was lacking PR and getting people involved, other than getting them to wear the toque. Solution?! Sir Richard Branson, the face of Virgin Mobile. With his influence, he got Glee star, Cory Monteith to sign up as a spokesperson and speak at events around Toronto.

In no time the toques were everywhere! There was a press conference held in Yonge/Dundas Square, Monteith was on MuchMusic's MOD promoting the campaige and it was over the news and American blogging sites.

Raising the Roof's decision to to partner with Virgin Mobile has created many opportunities for the toque campaign and there is much more to come. With the help of Sir Richard Branson and the raising popularity of the Glee star, more people are going to become aware and involved.

Here is the PSA Branson did for the campaign:



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