Meet Galen Gifford from High Fives Five for Fives Partner bigtruck!
For those readers out there not familiar with you and SYNC, can you give them a quick overview of what it is that you do?
GG: bigtruck® designs and manufactures some of the most iconic headwear styles in the market. Their signature quality standard coupled with articulate, bold design language has become instantly recognizable and is pioneering a new perception of lifestyle headwear. bigtruck’s #funfirst tag line resonates with customers of all ages, demographics and geographies and has become synonymous with
approachability, community and of course having fun. Headquartered near Lake Tahoe, Ca. and distributed world wide, bigtruck is a triple bottom line company that believes work life balance is foundational to building a great brand.
How did you get involved with the High Fives Foundation?
GG: bigtruck founding partner and President, Galen Gifford’s dear friend Grant Korgan suffered a life altering spinal cord injury in a 2010 Snow mobile crash which left him paralyzed from the belly button down. During the early stages of Grants recovery Galen organized a large fundraiser to help Grant & Shawna Korgan with their escalating and overwhelming hospital bills. Both the High Fives Foundation and bigtruck were at the event to raise money for the Korgan’s. This is where Galen Gifford and Roy Tuscany, Executive Director of High Fives Foundation met for the first time. Roy loved what bigtruck’s brand represented and the quality of the hats and Galen loved that the foundation was not only helping his friend but a whole community of people. The two and their organizations started working together from that day forward to help people who have suffered life altering injuries.
How does your company support High Fives?
GG: bigtruck® supports the foundation in a variety of ways. bigtruck® works side by side with the foundation on designing and manufacturing cobranded High Fives x bigtruck® product that is used to help raise money for the foundation throughout the year. Currently, the two organization are in the-midst of an extra special athlete collaboration that will be dropping this fall. The #funfist lifestyle brand continues to support the foundation through events as well as developing personal relationships with individual athletes and Military to Mountains Veterans. Also, qs a member of the Five for Fives program, bigtruck® donates $.05 for every hat sold on bigtruck.com to the foundation.
What is your favorite High Fives Memory?
GG: There are so many memories and amazing experiences that bigtruck and HFF have experienced together. One of the highlights would be when Roy Tuscany broke the World record for most high fives in a single day in San Francisco. They would go into a bar, restaurant, trade show and Galen would announce to the patrons that they where breaking a record and everyone in the building should give Roy a high five! It was a long night of high fiving and creating awareness for the High Fives Foundation.
What does High Fives mean to you?
GG: Ultimately it means community. It’s incredible how the foundation supports it’s athletes financially and that is a huge task. We are in awe of the wonderful community that High Fives has created. A community where athletes can recover together with other people who have suffered life altering injuries. The High Fives Foundation means connection, friendship, and support.
bigtruck has been there since the beginning! How have you seen the Foundation grow?
GG: High Fives started in 2009 and bigtruck officially launched in 2010 so the two brands have been together since the beginning. Thinking back to the first event with Grant Korgan as the 5th athlete of the foundation to now helping well over 100 athletes. Bigtruck has seen first hand the foundation grow from a single dorm room style office to a National foundation with it’s own healing center and headquarters.
We have seen it grow from 1 employee to 8 with over 50 volunteers each year. It is truly inspiring to see the positive impact the High Fives Foundation has on it’s athletes and it’s community. Bigtruck is honored to have been there to support High Fives from the beginning and to witness the incredible growth and athletes the foundation has helped. We encourage everyone to learn more about the High Fives Foundation and join its incredible mission.
THE CALL OUT! What other company do you think should get involved with the Five for Fives program?
GG: Giro Snow! Their helmets are not only stylish but also feature MIPS technology for added protection. As a partner of bigtruck® and another California based company, it would be awesome to see Giro Snow get involved and help promote #helmetsarecool.
