On Sunday, November 4, 2018, the S.T.A.N.D Against Sexual Violence had their start up fundraiser for the organization, with help from Original Joe's and the Wheatland Kings.

Erin Brassard, the person who started S.T.A.N.D., talked about why she started it. She said it was because she has been sexually assaulted more than one time in her life, and that from those assaults she held the burden of the experiences by herself for quite some time. It all changed one night, however, when she saw a friend of hers say the exact same things that she was telling herself. Brassard realised that she couldn’t do it alone anymore and she couldn’t let her friend, and other women, carry the burden by themselves. She decided to start the S.T.A.N.D. organization to support other survivors of sexual assault.

Brassard talked about the fundraiser, saying it is going to help get the organization started and to help raise awareness. Original Joe’s and their servers donated their tips and matched everything that was donated. Brassard mentioned that all of the donations would go directly to start up costs, like free counseling, yoga as a healing process, and just general start up costs. She also mentioned that the Wheatland Kings helped out with the fundraiser as well.

Cole Busslinger, one of the players of the Wheatland Kings, talked about how the Kings would help with the fundraiser. The team decided to help because they understand how much of a difference sponsors can make, he said without sponsors there would be no Kings. Busslinger said it was a no brainer that they would help out Brassard when she approached the Kings manager Darcy Busslinger. The Kings really like what the organization stands for, and as a lot of people look up to the Kings they want to be mentors to the younger ones and really be a role model to those younger people.

How the Kings helped with the fundraiser was by giving away their portion of the 50/50 draw that they have each game, and the Kings bartenders donated a portion of their tips to the S.T.A.N.D. organization. Even the Kings themselves helped to donate, as each of their players brought in donations to donate personally to the organization.

In total the fundraiser was able to make a total of $7990.50 for start up costs for the organization.