HARTFORD, Conn. –
A local business, co-founded by a Connecticut National Guard soldier, has raised more than $70,000 for the family of Connecticut State Trooper Aaron Pelletier who was killed in the line of duty on May 30, 2024.
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Alex Faba-spicer, training non-commissioned officer for Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 118th Medical Battalion, co-founded Raise the Standard, a resiliency-themed apparel company in 2020 with his cousin Nicholas Poulin.
The business, while being a for-profit company, sets aside a portion of their profits every month to donate to worthy causes in the community. When Trooper First Class Pelletier, a husband and father of two young boys, was killed after being hit by an intoxicated driver during a routine traffic stop on I-84, Faba-spicer and Poulin knew they needed to take action.
“We both agree that community action is just a huge part of the brand’s mission,” said Faba-spicer. “Whenever we see an opportunity to help people in need in our community, we dip into whatever small amount of resources we have as a growing company and we do our best to do that.”
As an apparel company that prides itself on creating designs which carry “a message of resilience and empowerment, inspired by real-life stories,” those resources came in the form of donating proceeds from the sales of t-shirts and sweatshirts printed with a custom design made to honor Pelletier’s life.
Because law enforcement is such a tightknit community which is very protective of those within that circle, Faba-spicer said there were some initial concerns about the legitimacy of the company’s efforts and whether or not they were just trying to use Pelletier’s death as a cash grab opportunity.
“A lot of people didn’t know who Raise the Standard was and they didn’t know we’ve done work like this before,” said Faba-spicer.
However, once those initial concerns were cleared up—they’ve donated thousands of dollars to local charities and youth sports since their creation—the business began to see an overwhelming amount of support, both from the military and law enforcement who knew the Pelletier family.
“We had quite a few police officers from Troop H come down and actually help print and pack a bulk of the original order blast,” said Faba-spicer. “It’s been really great and really encouraging … this is by far the most significant [amount of money] we’ve ever raised.”
The business owners are planning to present Dominique Pelletier, Aaron’s wife, with a check as soon as their fundraising campaign is complete. However, they haven’t set a definitive end date yet, as orders continue to come in almost every day.
“Each day that myself and Nick discuss taking it down, we have a large amount of people inquire about purchasing, particularly from the police community and the military community, so we’ve just been letting it run,” said Faba-spicer.
He also said they will most likely make the decision to end the campaign later this week so they can get the money to where it needs to be, the Pelletier family.
To learn more about Raise the Standard, you can visit their website at www.raisethestandard.com or find them on all major social media sites.