Roddenberry Entertainment Celebrates Gene’s Birthday With Charity Merch
Roddenberry Entertainment has launched a merchandise campaign through Stands, an online merchandising portal that harnesses the power of fandom by partnering with public figures and organizations to raise money for charitable causes.
The campaign raises money for 350 and The Trevor Project and comes at a time when the production company is celebrating the centennial birthday of the late Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry, on August 19. Gene Roddenberry is widely known as a father of modern-day science fiction, and the man who brought diversity, hope, and radical inclusion into our homes through the Star Trek franchise. Merchandise can be purchased here as of August 2.
“One of the most beautiful elements of the Star Trek universe is the incredible community of fans it includes, and how they have changed the world in their own ways. We hope that they will join us in raising money for organizations working to protect the people on our planet, and the planet itself. Star Trek has always reaffirmed the importance of being good and doing good, and its fans have always been a significant part of that,” says Rod Roddenberry, CEO of Roddenberry Entertainment.
Designed with Star Trek’s core values of diversity and inclusion in mind, the limited edition merchandise – which includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, socks, bags and other items – is all emblazoned with one word: “UNITY,” each letter built by the form of a different emblem from the Star Trek universe. Proceeds will benefit 350 –an international movement dedicated to ending fossil fuels and boost renewable energy solutions, and The Trevor Project – a crisis-intervention and support service fighting for and defending LGTBQ+ youth.
The Stands campaign is one component of a yearlong, multi-faceted celebration of Gene Roddenberry’s creative genius and his contributions to society, called thinkTREK. In an effort to promote Roddenberry’s ethos of kindness, inclusivity, and improvement, Roddenberry Entertainment and Star Trek fan communities are encouraging everyone to #thinkTREK: to see and act on Star Trek’s philosophies in our own personal relationships, in daily life, and in the world.
The #thinkTREK campaign initiatives include not only this limited edition merchandise but also #talkTREK, #seeTREK, #beTREK, and #makeTREK, each playing out online and across social media. Thousands of Star Trek fans have engaged with the #seeTREK and #beTREK campaigns by submitting examples of where they see Star Trek out in the world (like in a pie presented to look like the Starship Enterprise), and of real-life people and stories who represent being Star Trek, which means reflecting the values embraced by the series, like an astronaut who achieved his dreams after starting out in life as a farmworker. In #buildTREK, master builder Samuel Hatmaker is designing and building a series of four iconic moments from the series out of toy bricks, the first of which was Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura’s Kiss, which was shared by Collider.
For more information on Roddenberry Entertainment and their centennial celebrations, please visit Roddenberry.com/thinktrek, or follow their social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Also this year, The Roddenberry Foundation has donated $100,000 to the Comic-Con Museum to support renovation and programming plans, recognizing the Museum’s efforts to highlight inclusivity, innovation, and creativity while honoring Gene Roddenberry’s legacy.
ABOUT RODDENBERRY ENTERTAINMENT
Roddenberry Entertainment is a science fiction leader, passionately providing thought-provoking, quality genre entertainment that sustains the legacy of our founder, Gene Roddenberry. We are devoted to producing viewer-centric entertainment that actively recognizes the integral role audiences play in the creation of any franchise, as well as the role substantive entertainment can play in bettering society. Our productions promote experience over observation; encouraging audiences to think, question and challenge the status quo of the world in which we live.