Carley’s Crew: You’ve Earned Your Wings

Written by Director of Volunteer Engagement Amy Griffith

 

Ever heard that saying, Beyonce wasn’t built in a day? Or was it Rome…? 

Whatever it was, we can relate! Perfection cannot be rushed. 

Today, we proudly reveal the new Carley’s Crew Volunteer Program logo, which was a true labour of love that took place over months of remembering, envisioning, designing, (a little compromising), and redesigning all to bring you the logo we share today. One that not only are we extremely proud of, but we know would make our girl proud too. 

When faced with the task of creating a logo worthy of representing both our dedicated volunteers, and the passion of the Carley’s Angels Foundation as a whole, it was clear immediately that we needed to do this right. Volunteers are a special, unique type of people. They selflessly give their time, no matter how little or how much, to a cause that they believe in, and expect absolutely nothing in return. I can recall times at previous Carley’ Angels events where I had to insist that our Crew take a break to eat, simply because they refused to leave their post and stop the work they were doing. This is true altruism. This passion, selflessness and clear dedication to the Foundation, where the Crew constantly put themselves at the bottom of the list, needed to be reflected in our new logo. 

I also felt a profound pull to connect Carley to our logo. Carley is at the center of everything we do. She is our motivation and our mission, and is with us in every decision that we make. Being our angel, we wanted to reflect Carley’s strength in our logo. However, angels and wings are often associated with death, grief and passing on within the cancer community. None of which remind us of the inspirational young woman Carley was. Along with recognizing both our Crew and Carley, my mission was to give angels wings a face lift, and breathe new life into their possibilities. 

 

Here is where we started:

Here’s what we loved

  • Superwoman wings to re-envision what wings can mean, and represent the strongest woman we know
  • A star to represent Carley herself, our guide through the work we do to unite holistic and traditional cancer care
  • A heart to represent the pure care and dedication of our Crew
  • Airline wings to represent how our Crew members always serve and support others

Here’s what we didn’t

  • Superwoman may be a strong female icon, but nothing compares to Carley. There is no comparison that can be made that holds a candle to her strength

  • The star and heart undervalue all that our Crew offers. What symbol could you possibly use to define such a compassionate group of likeminded people?

  • Stylistically, we knew we would do better

Back to the drawing board we went. Combining all of what we loved, with a mix of what we had learned, led us to our final result.

Introducing, the official Carley’s Crew Volunteer Program logo:

Here’s why we love it. When discussing the essence and heart of our Volunteers, what kept coming up time and time again, was their dedication to putting the organization first. No matter the task, no matter the time, no matter the job at hand, our Crew never fails to step up, put their lives on hold, and serve our community, all while asking for nothing in return. It became clear that our new wings needed to represent those character traits, and that’s how airline wings were born. We are breathing new life into the praise “earning your wings” and changing the narrative in a way that represents empowerment, not loss. Our Crew helps us reach new heights, because with them, not even the sky can limit the things we can achieve.

We’d like to thank our graphic designer Joe Cantin for his hard work and patience when it came to this important project. He listened to our stories about Carley and learned early on what an important symbol Carley’s Crew is to maintaining her legacy and our work, uniting holistic and traditional cancer care.

Interested in joining the crew or getting involved? Click here