Instagram followers all over the world have been posting their Bernie Sanders image on their instagram pages.Sanders wore brown parka and recycled wool mittens at the presidential inauguration with his arms and legs crossed, sparking endless quirky memes across social media.
The mittens have helped to raise $1.8 million in the last five days for charitable organizations in Sanders’ home state of Vermont. The sum comes from the sale of merchandise which has been made this month. Sanders put the first of the so-called “Chairman Sanders” merchandise, including T-shirts, sweatshirts and stickers, on his website Thursday night and the first run sold out in less than 30 minutes.
“Jane and I were amazed by all the creativity shown by so many people over the last week, and we’re glad we can use my internet fame to help Vermonters in need. But even this amount of money is no substitute for action by Congress, and I will be doing everything I can in Washington to make sure working people in Vermont and across the country get the relief they need in the middle of the worst crisis we’ve faced since the Great Depression,” he said.
The groups that will benefit from the proceeds of the “Chairman Sanders” items include area agencies on aging to fund Meals on Wheels throughout Vermont, Vermont community action agencies, Feeding Chittenden, Vermont Parent Child Network, The Chill Foundation, senior centers in Vermont and Bistate Primary Care for dental care improvements in the state, said Sanders’ office.
Getty Images also confirmed that they will donate their proceeds as part of the licensing agreement to put the photo on the merchandise to Meals on Wheels of America.
Sanders’ mittens were made by Jen Ellis, a Vermont elementary school teacher who has a side business making mittens out of recycled wool. Ellis said on social media over the weekend that Sanders called to tell her that “the mitten frenzy” had raised an enormous amount of money for Vermont charities although she was not authorized to disclose the amount, yet.
Ellis said she made three more pairs of mittens and donated them for fundraising to Passion 4 Paws Vermont, Outright Vermont, and would be auctioning off a pair on eBay for her daughter’s college fund.
According to his office, Sanders’attire has also sparked other charitable endeavors. A crocheted doll of Sanders in his garb was auctioned off online and Burton Snowboards donated 50 jackets to the Burlington Department for Children and Families in Sanders’ name
