Arizona man sells T-shirt collection to support Underhay family
Andrew Boyer raised $1,400 at yard sale Sunday in Charlottetown
When Andrew Boyer travelled from Phoenix, Ariz., to Charlottetown on Friday, he brought two suitcases packed with more than 200 shirts.
Boyer travelled across the continent with his collection of vintage band and concert T-shirts in order to raise money for the family of Josh and Oliver Underhay, who died in a canoeing accident April 19.
Josh Underhay was well known on P.E.I. as a Green Party candidate, a cycling advocate, a teacher and a musician. Oliver was his six-year-old son.
"Josh is an amazing person," Boyer said. "There's like nobody that I know of that didn't like that guy. He's just like so nice and so friendly and warm and welcoming.
"And I just wanted to do something to give back to his family. It's just a tragic event and I was just devastated when I heard it."
Friendship through music
Boyer is an East Coast music fan who travels to P.E.I. several times a year, typically for music events.
He was planning to come to P.E.I. for the upcoming East Coast Music Awards, but he ended up coming a week early in order to attend a celebration of life in memory of Josh and Oliver.
Boyer met Underhay several years ago at the ECMAs in St. John's, N.L. Boyer was there by himself and remembers when Underhay approached him one day.
"He came up to me one day and he was like, 'Hey, I just wanted to say I've seen you in the lobby by yourself several times this week, and my name's Josh. I just wanted to say hi.' And ever since then we were friends," said Boyer.
"That's just how he was though. He was just friends to everyone."
All money going to family
Boyer has been collecting band and concert T-shirts for more than a year and had planned to start an online business to sell them. But when he heard about Josh and Oliver's deaths, he decided he wanted to help the Underhay family instead.
On Sunday, Boyer set up at a yard sale in Charlottetown, selling the T-shirts by donation, with a suggested donation of $15 per shirt.
By the end of the day he sold close to a 90 shirts and raised about $1,400.
He said he heard many supportive comments from people who stopped by with some saying they'd come specifically because they had heard about his fundraiser.
"That's how Charlottetown is," Boyer said.