On January 7^th, our HALF United team traveled to Raleigh, NC to attend Building 429’s performance at Winter Jam.  What’s the connection?  Jason Roy is the front man for Building 429 and he supports the efforts of HALF UNITED by wearing his hunger-fighting bullet necklace!  Pretty cool huh?! So, cool that HALF UNITED has made special B429 Fighting Hunger Necklaces in the bands colors and during the Winter Jam tour, B429 will be selling the necklaces along side their merchandise.

But back to Raleigh. . . .when we arrived in Raleigh we were given the opportunity to be a part of the B429 Street Team.  What an adventure!  Our mission was to generate excitement among the 10,000 young people in attendance.  We rocked the B429 black and yellow colors along with black suspenders and yellow hardhats.  We mingled with the kids in line outside and sold CD’s and bullet necklaces while sharing our mission and leading some high-decibel cheers!  During the show we blew up yellow beach balls and tossed them into the crowd.  Jason and the guys were brilliant performers!  It was amazing to watch thousands of people having such a great time and singing along.

After the show, part of the HALF UNITED team started to leave Raleigh, but only 5 minutes on I-40 had to stop due to an overheating engine, they were running hot! And not in a good way. Ha! Fortunately, Tim the Mantern and his fun-loving girlfriend Jennifer stayed to see the wild pyrotechnic show put on by the band Skillet.  Both groups were feeling the heat, but only one of them was having fun.  The HALF team decided to move again after cooling down in a very helpful stranger’s driveway.

Bring on breakdown number two! However, now they were 45 minutes outside of Wilmington.  So close but yet so far away! Thankfully, Tim and Jennifer were leaving the concert and quickly raced away to rescue Carmin & crew.  It was getting late, like 2am late, the situation was dark, and water was low in Carmin’s vehicle.  Tim the Mantern’s rescue supplies included 5 gallons of water and $1 lottery scratch-off tickets for everyone who was waiting for their luck to change.  Brilliant and what a mood changer! Even though, nobody won any lottery money, everyone did make it back home safely.  You would think that breaking down twice, with limited supplies and jokes would bring this crew down, but no!

Fighting hunger isn’t an easy job but you cant let being stranded on the side of the road get in your way!

“Family, faith, philanthropy. For Carmin and Christian Black, such three components make up success for their current business, Half United, which sales fashionable wares, like necklaces, bracelets and T-shirts, for a cause.”

Click on the cover image to read the entire story!

When I think about charities in general, I wonder how much of my dollar is really going towards helping someone in need.  As a mantern with HALF UNITED, I have seen the numbers, and I understand where my money is going when I donate.  They are very transparent concerning their business structure.  The profit is evenly divided between feeding children and growing the business.  That’s pretty amazing really.

HALF UNITED was started from scratch with only $200.  Already 35,000 meals have been donated!  Imagine what could be done with $20,000.00!  That’s why we started the IndieGoGo campaign.  Skip 2 Froyos or Cafe Mochas and you’ve saved about $10.00.  It hurts, but you can do it!  Then go to www.IndieGoGo.com and drop off your savings.  If I could stand there ringing a bell I would certainly smile and say thank you!  That’s enough money to feed a child a week’s worth of food and to help a generous business become even more generous!  Trust HALF UNITED.  Give at least $10.  I’ve seen the numbers.  More importantly, I’ve seen their hearts.

We have 21 days left!  We need YOU!!

Click here to donate  ——->  www.IndieGoGo.com

THANK YOU!!!

The task of branding is especially difficult when so many things are happening that there is never a moment to slow down, stop even, and pin point the most essential, basic things, that define who and what HALF UNITED is.   We’ve finally realized this major flaw and have put a stop to it.

After weeks of meeting and research, Carmin and I met, compared notes and spoke about where HALF has been and where we would like to go as a company.  The meeting was a smash hit!  We both came with logo ideas, clothing campaign concepts, target markets and retail goals and after successfully collaborating, we are very happy with what we came up with and we cannot wait to share it with you!

I personally would like to say thank you, from the Creative Department, to everyone who has supported HALF even when we have not been completely together.  Our marketing has been here and there but you have supported us through all of it and its because of you we are able to keep this business going, we are able to feed children all across the world and its because of you, our supporters, that the dreams of my sister and I and the entire HALF team are able to come to fruition.

-Christian Black, HALF UNITED Creative Director

Logo Timeline:

This was the first HALF graphic I ever created.  I remember not knowing a thing about photoshop.  This was done in the upstairs apartment of Hallelu- the first boutique we were ever in.

This logo was used as HALF’s logo for a long time.  We created our first ever sticker with this logo.  Looking back I dont know what I was thinking.  It is highly disproportional and to me just downright ugly.

This was a logo concept.  It was never used.  People always tell me to play more on the HALF/HALF thing but Ive never been a fan of that.  I tried that here and didnt like it.

This bullet graphic is currently used as a logo for our bullet necklaces and is featured on one of our fall line sweaters.  Another mistake we made was not keeping all of our logos the same.  We had one for our clothing and one for our necklaces…that’s confusing.

This logo was used for the header of our website and was made to resemble the tag on your clothes that give washing instructions.  Every graphic here represents what we do with the exception of the 89 which was made to represent a new clothing line for men called 1989 but we decided that that too was too confusing and that we need to focus of HALF UNITED.

There are MANY more logos that we have gone through but you would be here far too long if I showed them all.  We are VERY happy with our new logo and cannot wait to share it with the world.  Stay tuned- we will announce our rebranding as soon as we can.

THANK YOU!

From the entire HALF UNITED team we wanted to shout out a HUGE “thank you” to you for your support of our IndieGoGo Fundraising event last Friday night! It was because of your attendance that we were able to give over 185 children school meals both here in Wilmington and abroad!

Fighting Global Hunger is HALF UNITED’s number one goal, but uniting with our friends and our supporters to end this ugly epidemic comes a close second! We want to remind you that YOU are the one feeding children in need every time your purchase a HALF UNITED product not us! We can design cool clothes, hold fun events, and even find the children in need to feed, but it is your purchases that ultimately put food in the bellies of the kids who need it most!

Please spread the word about HALF UNITED to your friends and family by asking them to also join us in the fight, and please keep in touch with us as you do.

We love to hear your stories, see your videos, look at your photos and read your emais- shoot them over to us at info@halfuntied.com or keep in touch with us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter (@halfunited).

To continue donating to HALF UNITED, see updates, and see our brand new fall line please visit our website at www.halfunited.com or check out our IndieGoGo site athttp://www.indiegogo.com/HALF-UNITED-Every-time-you-purchase-a-product-you-feed-a-child-in-need.

Thank you for doing your HALF! Global hunger is a big, nasty epidemic but together we can stop this thing in it’s tracks!

- The HALF UNITED Team

Volunteer with us to help plant a garden where they are able to touch and see their own food as it grows!  (See info below)  Fresh produce becomes much more appealing to children when they are able to be a part of the gardening process.  When the seed they’ve planted becomes food to eat, they are eager to try it!

HALF UNITED recently joined forces with Food Corps and Feast Down East to break ground for a new garden at Snipes Elementary School. Ever heard of a spiral garden? We used recycled flag stone to form a spiral and filled it in with topsoil. Eventually this will be an artistic home for sensory herbs such as Lamb’s Ear and Mint. Anything with an interesting sight, smell, and texture is helpful in capturing the interest of children. Who doesn’t like to feel the fuzzy, softness of a Lamb’s Ear leaf?

The goal of the project is to teach children about growing and eating fresh organic foods. If you’ve ever watched Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution this is our local version of it! At HALF UNITED, we are thrilled to be a part of giving back locally. There are plenty of opportunities to dig in and reach out to children through the new gardening programs. Please contact Sara Quinn for details and to make sure the following activities are happening during a given week.

Sara Quinn – sara.quinn@foodcorps.org
HALF UNITED – info@halfunited.com

What: Garden Science Lessons with Snipes 3rd Graders
When: every Thursday and Friday (expect no-school days), from 1:30-2 pm
Where: Snipes Academy, contact Sara for details

What: Friends, Food, and Fun after school garden activity
When: every Friday 2:30-4:30
Where: Hillcrest Community Center

Thanks for doing your HALF!  -Tim the “Mantern” Livingston

]]> http://halfunited.com/1592/journal/1592/feed/ 0 http://halfunited.com/1553/journal/kids-rarely-take-themselves-seriously-why-should-we-lets-party/ http://halfunited.com/1553/journal/kids-rarely-take-themselves-seriously-why-should-we-lets-party/#comments Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:48:54 +0000 Carmin http://halfunited.com/?p=1553 Continue reading →]]>

FUNDRAISING FOR HUNGER FIGHTING!

HALF UNITED is about to throw an ultra-swanky, fantastic, uber-cool, you-have-got-to-get-involved-with-us party TOMORROW NIGHT NOV. 4TH, and we want you there! We are about to break out of the box, go against the grain, and shake things up all in an effort to broaden the span of our hunger-fighting reach!

This event kicks off our Indegogo.com crowd-funding campaign (which doesn’t go live until the event begins) and gives us the chance to hang out with you, let you know about what we have coming up in the near future and how you can get involved!

For the past two years we have been learning the ins and outs of global hunger, fine-tuning where and how we feed kids in need, listening to your stories, reading your emails, and taking note of all of the awesome ways you want to get involved! Your design ideas have propelled us forward, your volunteer work has made our outreach projects possible, and ABOVE ALL your purchases have fed over 35,000 kids in need! We plan to keep this hunger-fighting-party rolling till the wheels fall off and we hope you stay with us on this ride!

The first 50 folks to bring a canned good to this event get a free fighting hunger necklace! Each ticket comes complete with a free raffle ticket (and man have some awesome prizes been donated!),  a week of school meals for a child in need, not to mention a free smile and good squeeze for just showing up!

If you love HALF and if you love Hunger-Fighting then you are our friend!! All friends welcome so bring your party pants and let’s get down!

Thanks for doing YOUR HALF! YOU ROCK.

xoxo, CARM.

Danielle|Women’s Designer

Price: $52.00

Grey Tri-Blend Sweatshirt
(50% Polyester | 25% Cotton | 25% Rayon)
Loose fitting on top; snug around waist

This sweatshirt provides 1 week of healthy school meals to 1 child in need.

• Color: -- Please Select -- Grey
• Size: -- Please Select -- Large Medium Small

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