LOVE. Tees: The Shirt that Feeds
No trip to Cartersville, Georgia is complete without seeing at least half a dozen t-shirts with a LOVE. Africa logo on the front. Often, the bell chimes at the door of our LOVE. retail store under the bridge in downtown Cartersville, and a curious traveler walks in with the same question as they look around: “Okay, I keep seeing these everywhere; what is the story behind this LOVE. shirt?”
Long story short, this is the shirt that feeds - over 8 million meals in fact.
It all started in 2014 with a bolt of Lappa fabric inspired by love.
In 2014, Cartersville art teacher Jennifer Turem sat down with a few bolts of Lappa fabric from a previous trip to Liberia and considered the first word that came to mind when she thought about her experiences in Africa: LOVE. While she expected to travel overseas and provide meals to children in need - which was a part of her journey - the most memorable moments on the trip for her came from thoughtful ways that each child found to show their love and gratitude.
The Original LOVE. Lappa Tee
Jennifer began cutting the word "LOVE" out of the Lappa fabric with the continent of Africa replacing the "O" and embroidering it to a t-shirt: creating the very first LOVE. shirt. Seven years and 100,000 shirts later the LOVE tee continues to make its way around the world to help those still suffering from hunger.
Every shirt provides 36 meals.
Since 2008, LIVE2540 has been on the ground in Liberia providing warm meals to children living in foster homes and orphanages. In 2014, when the LOVE. shirt first began to circulate, the connection was simple: every shirt sold turned into many warm meals for a child - 36 to be exact.
Many of the most thoughtful people on earth rallied around the mission and the wave of LOVE. never stopped. What started as a t-shirt has turned into hundreds of purposeful purchases, a retail space as well as an online store, pictures of LOVE. tees from around the world, and millions of meals.
Check out our products online at bestshirtonearth.com to shop the shirt that feeds or check out the video below - a celebration of our 7 millionth meal served last year.