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Five days and counting, $605 still needed.

Those are the numbers facing Soledad Street Apparel—the feisty startup launched by Peter Maurin Screenprinters and the Franciscan Workers of Junipero Serra on Salinas’ rough-and-tumble Soledad Street. Michael Scharen, Peter Maurin’s de facto manager, launched a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter.com to raise $3,000 to get Soledad Street Apparel off the ground and pay for a much needed marketing campaign.

Kickstarter, a social fundraising platform for creative projects, requires a deadline date for its projects. While Soledad Street Apparel has done pretty well—raising just over $2,300 in three weeks—it needs that $605 to get it to the finish line.

Here’s the rub: If they don’t reach the $3,000 goal, they get nothing at all and all the money currently pledged goes back to the donors.

Peter Maurin—named after the co-founder of the Franciscan Workers’ movement—has gained some traction among area businesses. Chef Tony Baker of Montrio Bistro used the shop to print shirts for his private “Baker’s Bacon” line of bacon. And Jessica James, owner of Salinas’ Fluff Cupcakery, used them to print her kitschy and catchy “What the Fluff” shirts. In addition to shirts, the Soledad Street Apparel line plans to print and market tote bags and wine bags.

Scharen done some innovative stuff to help the Kickstarter campaign gain traction as well. Check out the noir video featured on the Soledad Street apparel Kickstarter page here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/856484918/soledad-street-apparel?ref=live. And consider sending them a few bucks; Peter Maurin employs the homeless of Soledad Street as a means of giving them a hand up, rather than a hand out.