Spendyourself has had a Haiti shirt in the works for months now. The design was completed and we were just finalizing a few things. It was not until my sister texted me yesterday and suggested that we do a limited time Haiti shirt that the lightbulb went off in my head: We need to pre-release the Haiti shirt NOW. People want to help. They want to give. They just need avenues to do so. So, I invite you, readers, to buy a shirt and make a real difference in Haiti now.

We had a fun outing in a downtown alleyway full of lots of colorful walls, shipping containers, and these gorgeous vines.

Amy, on the left is one of the founders of the new Resc\You mission. Work it girl!

These next two are married. And cute.

Ben, pictured above, decided that he needed to shake a nearby tree and make all the leaves fall on Julie’s head for some pictures. Julie was a good sport (even when I made them do it more than once… and I think it turned into a fun little sequence!

The youngest (and I daresay, the cutest) Resc\You model! Amy’s niece Madelin

Okay, it is quite possible that no one else out there will like this next picture… but I can’t get enough of it. It is blurry, but her soft smile and the rainbow colors in the shirt just take me back somewhere… childhood I guess. Oh the 80′s! Anna, you are beautiful!

You probably recognize this next guy. He was prop man for the photoshoot, even when the props included a small child. I was in the middle of shooting the models, but I couldn’t resist turning my camera to snag a pic of this adorable scene. I’m pretty sure he was in the middle of saying “Hey! The action is over there!” to make me get my camera off him

Sara, you are just too cute. I absolutely love your smile and laugh!

Lana, please come back and model for me again. Girl you were WORK-IN-IT! She appeared and then disappeared again quickly, but I’m sure glad she came so I could snag some shots of her!

And, that’s the end! Go buy a tshirt here, won’t you?

And while you’re over there, register to win FREE SHIRTS for a YEAR! The drawing will be Nov 30th!

Since this IS my photo blog, I just have to share with you a few of my favorite images I captured on Friday while doing the photoshoot for this shirt. We had some INCREDIBLE models… they did crazy stuff… like this:

And this

And then there was the field. Oh I love you, field. Except that I had to painfully photoshop out all the light poles and the house in the background

Um, well… I guess I got too lazy to keep photoshopping them out

In the spirit of Isaiah 58:10, a couple of friends and myself have created a non-profit apparel company called ‘spendyourself.’

Love has compelled us to feel the weight of responsibility, and to take hold of an opportunity that can make a difference. That’s why spendyourself is much more than an apparel company—it represents a heart for social justice and a vision to drive potential change in the world.

The vision of this movement is two-fold.

• First, we want to give a voice to the voiceless and oppressed all across the world. Each t-shirt tells a story, and we’re depending on YOU to tell the individual stories that each shirt embodies. Without your part, we would be unable to spread the message of those who have no voice.

• Second, the money you spend on the shirt goes directly to fund the specific project that your shirt was inspired by. Each project helps empower the powerless in a sustainable way. We don’t want to be about just throwing money at something, but we work with reputable, trustworthy partners to fund specific projects that bring lasting, sustainable change.

The exciting part right now is that our website has officially launched and I wanted to share the link with you if you would like to support our efforts.  I’ve attached the link below and would love to hear your feedback!

http://spendyourself.net/

And because every post is better with pictures, here’s a few more from Africa.

Spendyourself is a non-profit apparel company designed to help be a voice for the voiceless and oppressed around the world… and help restore their dignity through sustainable projects. Basically we are designing a t-shirt or a series of shirts where all of the profits go toward a specific project and aim to create sustainable solutions.

The first t-shirt series… “Omed”… is for a camp of internally displaced refugees in Afghanistan. Basically, these people left many years ago when things in Afghanistan were bad. They returned to Kabul a few years ago, to find that there were no jobs and nowhere for them to live. The government “relocated” them out into the middle of nowhere… the middle of the desert.. with pretty much nothing but tarps for tents. Sozo International stepped in to bring some basic relief and meet their survival needs. We are slowly moving towards sustainability in the village, and so this t-shirt series is helping to finish building a school in this village, Barek Aub, for these refugee children who currently have no place to go to school. Barek Aub means “broken water” and we hope to bring True, Living Water to this place. This is reflected in the t-shirt design.

The Spendyourself website will be up in about a week for you to order shirts! But, for now, I thought I’d show you some of the fun shots I did in our t-shirt photoshoot.  You might recognize one of those uber-handsome men… its my boyfriend Lee…

Those are our logo tees… designed by Tyler of Pedale Design

Fun fact: Those two are getting married in 10 days!

And this last one is a little blurry… but I just think it is soo dang cute of my man… The reluctant model did pretty good, don’t you think?