Team Tate Sells T-shirts For Tate Scholarship Fund

Team Tate could be found among the rain and the donuts yesterday at the on Shelton Avenue, selling T-shirts in support of James Tate to raise money for the James Tate Scholarship Fund.

Team Tate sold 46 T-shirts at the Donut Center yesterday and 76 shirts online, a day's total that pleased the group. However, they still have 120 more to sell online or at donation centers in the hopes of raising $250-500 for the fund.

“It’s a bit died down, we’ve had a lot of online orders from all over the world though,” said Christian Iannucci, one of the creators of the alternative prom for James Tate that has since since the Shelton High School headmaster revoked the ban from the prom that caused the flurry of media coverage and an outpour of support for Tate over Twitter and Facebook.

The movement has moved beyond James to become something larger, according to Iannucci.

“He’s not the type of person to rock the boat,” said Iannucci, “I think a lot of the larger groups are doing it for him.”

Iannucci also said that Matt Kartke, one of the other people that started the alternative prom for Tate, was in Los Angeles recording a song about the event with Avril Lavigne’s guitarist and David Archuleta’s bassist. The song will be released on jamestateprom.com later today.

The shirts arrived from Super Tees in Ansonia yesterday fresh off the presses and are still available online at www.jamestateprom.com for $10.

The sales of the shirts will be used to create the James Tate Scholarship Fund which will be awarded to an SHS student that “exemplifies creative expression, youth empowerment, integrity and grace,” according to Iannucci.

The Tate family will decide if the money raised will be awarded in one lump sum or used over the course of several years in smaller amounts to more students.

Other groups are also selling shirts, such as the #teamtate shirts that were being sold at SHS, but the ones sold on the website and at the locations around Shelton were the only ones approved by the Tate family, according to Iannucci.

Iannucci said he is hoping to get someone to go back to the Donut Center tomorrow to sell more shirts and raise more money. Yesterday's efforts were a bit hampered, due to bookings with two of the planned donation sites falling through. According to Iannucci, there was a techinal problem at Splash Car Wash at 376 Bridgeport Ave., which prevented the group from selling there. Their third site, Liquid Lunch at 434 Howe Ave., closed early.

In spite of this, Iannucci said he is hopeful that donations and sales will continute to come in. "I met so many students today at the Donut Center and they're all still incredibly excited and supportive of Tate and what we're doing."