TORONTO -- An Ontario man who spent decades painting signs for Toronto’s iconic discount store is using his skills to raise money for a local food bank and to spread positive messages amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wayne Reuban spent 45 years painting unique signs for Honest Ed’s, which permanently closed its doors in December 2016. About a week ago he and his daughter started a campaign to raise money for the Parkdale Community Food Bank by selling exclusive hand-painted signs they hoped would bring a sense of joy to a struggling community.

The decision came after the family heard about a number of signs popping up in windows across downtown Toronto—a sign that used the distinct Honest Ed’s lettering Wayne Reuben is so well-known for.

“This person had scanned one of my dad’s Honest Ed’s signs and digitally manipulated it,” his daughter Niki Reuben-Laxamana said.

The slogan used on the sign was “we are all in this together,” in blue and red lettering. Wayne Reuben said that he knew right away the sign wasn’t his as he would never use a hyphen if a word didn’t fit on the same line. He would simply use a smaller font size.

“He hyphenated ‘together.’ I would never do that. It’s not my style,” he said.

Niki Reuben-Laxamana, a former police officer who used to work in the fraud unit, was able to track the person down and get him to stop producing the sign, but it gave the family an idea.

“My dad is a retiree and a pensioner and obviously as his daughter it made me quite upset,” Niki Reuben-Laxamana said. “I wanted to flip this into something positive.”

The family decided that Wayne Reuben would sell an exclusive sign of his own and split the profits with the Parkdale Community Food Bank, which like most food banks across the Greater Toronto Area, has seen an increase in usage since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared.

The 72-year-old said that the slogan for the sign came to him in the middle of the night.

“I made the sign at six o’clock in the morning,” he said. “When I got up in the morning, I didn’t write it down, I just made the sign.”

The slogan “we must stand alone to win together” is meant to be a message of hope and education—encouraging people to keep their physical distance while working together to combat the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus.

“They are all hand-painted work,” Niki Reuben-Laxamana said. “He is doing it exactly using the Honest Ed’s format – the exact same size, same paint colours and using this slogan.”

The family is selling the exclusive store display signs for $250 (no tax) and will be giving 50 per cent of the profits to the food bank and using the remaining money to purchase supplies. The first 25 orders in the Greater Toronto Area will be hand delivered by a director from the Parkdale Community Food Bank.

After the first 25 orders, there will be a flat shipping fee of $25 across Canada.

In response to the #COVID19 pandemic, I’m excited to announce a charity fundraiser!

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My dad, Honest Ed’s Sign Painter @WayneReuben_ , is selling an exclusive sign & donating 50% of proceeds to @parkdalefoodbnk in #Toronto

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To buy, pls send email request to yournikt@gmail.com pic.twitter.com/cmRPr3Bj3I — Niki Reuben ♕ MSc., HBA, BA, CPT (@YourNikt) April 15, 2020

David White, the chair of fundraising at the food bank, said it was his idea to deliver the signs.

“I said for the first 25 orders, let’s do something different that people have never done,” White said. He said that he has delivered six or seven of the signs to date, and that people have been really receptive to the personalized service. On Saturday, he will be driving to Burlington, Ont. to deliver Wayne Reuben’s latest creation.

White said he was honoured to be approached by Niki Reuben-Laxamana on social media about the collaboration.

“I’ll be honest with you, I’ve been a big fan of his work,” he said. “At the end of the day, he’s an iconic artist.”

Shortly after the Reuben family started this campaign, they were contacted by the Henderson Brewing Company who wanted to use the sign as a label for their Ides of April 2020 beer campaign—ironically also benefiting the Parkdale Community Food Bank.

Niki Reuben-Laxamana said that she has been in contact with White for years over social media, but this is the first time the pair have been able to collaborate.

A lot of food banks have been forced to close down and this is one that has remained open,” she said. “They are seeing a huge amount of people needing their help right now.”

“Everyone is having a hard time but we can all support each other, even from a distance.”

The Parkdale Community Food Bank has modified the way they operate amid the COVID-19 pandemic. They used to run a shopping model, where clients could walk through aisles and pick the food items they needed, but due to the new physical distancing rules and the stringent cleaning protocols now in place, they have shifted to creating hampers that need to be delivered to clients.

“It’s always been hard for food banks for us and across Toronto. The need is always there. It will never go away,” White said. “But there is a lot of people showing their love to our food bank.”

“I know we will overcome this at some point.”