Who We Are

My name is Shane Kejick, founder of Neechi By Nature and Babaa-Ayaa Productions, an urban Indigenous nonprofit and creative organization based in Toronto. Our work blends fashion, community programming, cultural storytelling, design, and multimedia production to uplift Indigenous voices and create opportunities for youth, artists, and urban Indigenous communities.

We operate on a shoestring budget, but we work every day to create impactful programming, runway collections, events, and community initiatives.

What Happened

Our nonprofit’s vehicle was stolen, along with essential sewing, design, and video equipment we rely on for operations:

Transporting inventory to events and markets, delivering youth programming, producing content and media, traveling to meetings, community work, and pop-ups, filming, photography, and documentation, sewing and clothing production. This theft hit us hard, financially and operationally.

We are now without:

A vehicle to run our programming, attend events and transport our Inventory. Some of our key equipment needed for sewing, design, and video production. All tools essential to keep Neechi By Nature and Babaa-Ayaa Productions moving forward.

This puts us at risk of losing momentum, opportunities, and upcoming projects we’ve been building toward.

What We’re Raising Funds For

We are raising funds to:

1. Purchase a reliable used vehicle (~$5,000–$7,000)

This replaces the stolen nonprofit vehicle so we can continue our work.

2. Replace the stolen sewing, design, and video equipment

These tools are essential for:

Apparel production

Custom pieces

Filming and content

Workshops

Youth programming

Runway preparation

Why This Is Urgent

Neechi By Nature is serving community, pushing Indigenous creative representation forward, and building platforms for artists.

Operating without a vehicle and equipment makes that almost impossible.

The faster we recover, the faster we can:

Get back to production

Prepare new collections

Run youth and community projects

Host events

Grow our nonprofit

Continue the momentum we’ve built over the last few years

Every dollar gets us back on our feet.

Why This Matters

Neechi By Nature was built from nothing — from resilience, from community, from survival. This brand and nonprofit have given people representation, visibility, and artistic space. We’ve fought through worse, and we will get through this too with community behind us.

If you believe in:

Indigenous storytelling

Urban Indigenous art

Streetwear with meaning

Youth programming

Creative empowerment

Community building

…your support directly fuels that work.

How You Can Help

Donate to the campaign

Share this fundraiser with your networks

Spread the word on social media, workplaces, and community circles. Every amount big or small gets us one step closer to rebuilding.

Miigwech for standing with us during this setback and helping us return stronger than before.