By Nathan Pilling
The Kansas City Star
KANSAS CITY, Mo. 鈥� The expectation was the T-shirt fundraiser would pull in a few thousand dollars. Then the orders started to roll in.
Dawn and Joe Eddings , the owners of e2 Embroidery & Screenprinting in Kansas City , established a fundraiser late last month for the family of who was fatally stabbed by a patient. A design went on a website, and the company began taking orders.
The business regularly does fundraisers for first responders, and typically raises around $5,000 to $10,000, Dawn Eddings said.
鈥淲hen we did this fundraiser for Graham, we just assumed it would be around the same, $5,000 to $10,000 extra to donate to the family,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd then all of a sudden, after an hour, it got to $17,000, 24 hours it got to $100,000. It just spun and kept spinning and spinning across the country and across the world.鈥�
The flood of orders means Hoffman鈥檚 family will receive donations of hundreds of thousands of dollars from a swath of contributors.
The company announced Sunday it sold more than 36,000 shirts and raised $381,500 to donate to Hoffman鈥檚 family from contributors from across the globe. Shirts were purchased in all 50 states and in 14 countries and will be shipped to more than 32,000 addresses.
Every dollar from the fundraiser, the company said, will go directly to Hoffman鈥檚 family.
What happened to Graham Hoffman?
Hoffman, 29, in the back of an ambulance, according to court documents. The patient, , was arrested and now faces a first-degree murder charge for Hoffman鈥檚 death.
Word about Hoffman鈥檚 death and the fundraiser spread, and donations began to pile up. The fundraiser became so large that it attracted scam sales on platforms like Amazon and TikTok, Dawn Eddings said.
Hundreds of cases of shirts arrived at the business鈥檚 Kansas City print shop Monday, she said, and in the coming days, the business will churn through the printing process. Volunteers will help with the gigantic folding and shipping effort.
鈥淲e鈥檙e asking for people鈥檚 patience because it is an undertaking to individually fold and package 36,000 shirts,鈥� Dawn Eddings said.
The business has plenty of connections to the fire service, including through owner Joe Eddings, a retired Kansas City firefighter. The cause is personal.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to us, just because of the brotherhood of the fire department, of fire service,鈥� Dawn Eddings said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 where we are.鈥�
漏2025 The Kansas City Star.
Visit .
Distributed by