Support our spring school hoodie drive!

Help us produce more school hoodies for K-8 students! The Backstory: In 2020, in the height of the pandemic, we started supplying cool swag to the students of an awesome charter school in St. Paul. A school hoodie re-design, but why? Because it became instantly clear how the pandemic was producing lifelong effects on kids at school, and Think Olive is on a mission to brighten days and empower young hearts through art. We wanted students to feel good and inspired going back to school after a rough experience remote schooling. We also wanted the youth and personality of the student body to shine through. Bye-bye boring school logo hoodies, hello Carolina Blue "Values" Hoodie. It was designed in a fresh, youthful style, highlighting the schools' values (Work, Respect, Belong) in English, Hmong, and Spanish, the schools' 3 languages. In our first year, we donated over 20 hoodies & made quite a splash!

Think Olive Hoodie Drives are 2-fold. First, we designed a new school hoodie and got it approved as official uniform wear by the principal. 2nd we had teachers nominate 2 students each to receive a free hoodie, circulating around the love and rewarding academic excellence. It was a great way to bring up spirits during a difficult time. And since then, we've gifted dozens more hoodies and get asked weekly when we can provide more. Teachers and staff want a hoodie. Every art club student wants a hoodie! And because self-expression is core to Think Olive, I'm pushing for more regular drops of the school hoodie... Queue Oprah, "Everybody gets a hoodie!"

Reason for campaign / What the money is for:

When I say "we" up there, ^^^ I mean me. I'm a one-mom show initiating and bankrolling all of this. Though I'm proud to say my two kiddos are my co-partners, the financing is all me. And I'm crowdfunding to balance the books if you know what I mean. Our goal for the spring semester of 2023 is to be able to gift 2-3 Kindergarten-8th graders with a free school hoodie! They'll be nominated by their teachers and awarded a printed certificate as well.

Local, independent Black-owned supplier:

I met our local screenprinting partner through my work with Black Ignite and we've been very happy with our product. The screenprint quality is unmatched, and with your help, we look forward to continuing this long-standing partnership. Because we produce in small batches (ordering the bare minimum each time) our cost is roughly $25 per hoodie. With the goal of about 30 hoodies for this giveaway, we need about $750 to confidently nominate and gift students. (With any leftovers from the campaign I'd also love to give some adult hoodies to our helpful school staff).

Every child matters

Giving these away for free is an ongoing strategy Think Olive will uphold. This is due to the fact the $25 price tag is not practical for many families at our school, but also because every student deserves a cool, new free hoodie, just because. Feeling seen and being appreciated at school matters. The more help we get circulating more hoodies around school, the higher the likelihood they'll consider bigger, bulk buys and we can make them more affordable for everybody. Till then though, we'll continue spreading joy & giving away as much as we can.

A mom on a mission

I'm a regular chaperone and volunteer at the school, and after the hoodie drive, I became the art teacher. It's an honor, and I want the best of the best for this student body. I'm currently self-funding a big portion of the *Art After School supplies my 30-40 students use week after week. So your help would go a long way! (*Read more about Art After School on thinkolivecreative.com).

My role and intention in all of this is of pure service. I believe it's critical to nurture young creative minds, especially now, and this is how I make sure I’m centering that, not treating this as a business but more, a mission, a vision. Maybe one day I'll make some extra side cash doing birthday parties, creating partnerships, or hosting events (all in the plans, sure) but for now, it's about the kids . Keeping our students inspired to lead creative lives and keeping art programs alive in our schools is the priority. Art saves lives, period. I'm here thinkin olive and supporting the next generation of inventors and leaders. Thank you so much for considering offering up some financial help!

Sincerely,

Heatherlee Nguyen

Founder of Think Olive Creative

+ #1 Art Teacher + Field Trip Chaperone (says the kids :)