Any Top Chef fans out there? Yeah us too. One of our Giving Tee partners - True Child - produces these fantastic fundraiser events with contestants from Top Chef called TrueFlavors. At each event this year they’ve shown the Tiny Revolutionary anti-bullying video and given away our Be True to Ewe tee to participants.

This past week’s event was in Washington DC where Carla, our all time fave Top Chef Contestant, was the star of the show:

Carla LOVED our line and was devastated the Be True to Ewe teee didn’t come in grown-up sizes. We’ll get cracking on that Carla!

Along side her was another amazing woman - Chancellor of DC Schools, Michelle Rhee.

Rhee is the most watched woman in the world of education right now and was rumored to be Obama’s first choice for Secretary of Education because of her commitment to saving kids, even at the expense of tenured faculty and union support. She’s not always popular but her record of taking kids to the top is unmatched. Very interesting and committed woman. Here’s a shot of her little girl holding our Giving Tee:

We are so honored to be partnering with True Child - their work to make schools a happier, healthier place for all our kids is truly critical and inspiring.

We’ve got a great new Giving Tee coming out in a few weeks. It benefits a charity called True Child which works to create safer environments for kids to be themselves.

$5 From the Sale of Each Tee goes to True Child

Every day, 160,000 kids stay home from school. Not because they’re sick or forgot to do their homework, but because they are afraid . . . afraid of being bullied. Kids who are bullied are generally identified by their peers as “different” and this is the root issue. If we teach kids from a young age that being different is ok, COOL even, then we can dismantle the bullying process. There will always be kids and adults who want to exert control over those who are weaker but if we can make spaces in school for kids to be their true, unique selves, then we can surely diminish the loneliness for kids who march to the beat of their own drummer. And most optimistically, if we can make being different cool, then we are well on our way to making our entire world a better place because the truth is, we are all different. We are all unique, but from a young age, may of us are taught to hide our true colors and follow the herd. What a shame. As the luminous Judy Garland once said, “Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.”

I just received great new photos from Africa Aid of the kids in Buduburam and had to share! As of now, we’re almost to the 500 child mark in our This Shirt Saved a Life campaign! We are so grateful for everyone who has participated thus far - it really has been an incredible outpouring of support and we can’t wait to launch more Giving Tee’s in the future!

The kids enjoy their daily lunch compliments of Africa Aid.

We’re going to continue working with Africa Aid to re-establish all programs in Liberia now that the families are being allowed to return. One of their newest focuses is on bringing advanced medical care to the kids so we’ll be right there with them to help in any way we can.