#DVATailgiving2018 - For the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank

Hello!

Long time no see (mostly because I haven’t written in a long time)! It’s your pal zrau, here to appeal to your charitable side for a good cause this football season.

If you follow me on Twitter (sorry), you probably know that my friends and I have a little bit of a tailgating problem. Somehow or another DVA Tailgating, the tailgate that my friends and I put together every week, became my primary obsession hobby during football season. We’ve grown year after year and feed more and more hungry mouths with each passing season. It’s a labor of love and I don’t think we’d have it any other way.

DVA Tailgating has also given us a unique platform that we can leverage to improve our community, so we’re starting #DVATailgiving2018, a t-shirt fundraiser to benefit the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank. We’ve designed two unique shirts, each reflecting Louisiana’s history, and each is gameday appropriate to boot (the shade of purple is Christina Stephens-approved). PodKatt has allowed me to make the #DVATailgiving2018 appeal on ATVS, and for that I am grateful.

Why the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank?

Well, first off, DVA Tailgating’s raison d’être is food and drink. No one wants to be hungry on gameday, and no one should be left without a meal any day. We can do something to help solve both problems.

According to HealthyBR, the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank distributes nearly one million lbs. of food each month, a very necessary endeavor. Why? Because 17% of EBR Parish citizens have limited access to grocery stores (the national average is 8%).

The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank makes up the gap in access to grocery stores by providing several food outreach services to the people of East Baton Rouge Parish, including its free mobile pantry, its BackPack Program for children, and Senior Grocery Program, which delivers shelf-stable food to at-risk seniors in the Capital Region. Furthermore, the food bank distributes food to local member agencies such as food pantries, soup kitchens, and group homes.

In short, several citizens of the Capital Region are food insecure, and the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank helps make up the gap through its outreach services.

The Shirts

Both designs are $20 (plus a fee for shipping), and net proceeds from the t-shirt drive will be donated to the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank at the end of the fundraiser. CustomInk Fundraising will be responsible for taking and fulfilling orders, as well as collecting and transferring all funds raised to the food bank. The header for each design links to its CustomInk ordering page, where you can place your order. All shirts will be delivered prior to the LSU-Georgia game in Death Valley on October 13^th. What a better way to show your Tiger pride and help improve life for citizens of the Capital Region?!

Option 1 – Huey P. Leads the Way

I conducted a poll on Twitter and this was the winner! Pictured above is the physical proof of the shirt I had made and how it will appear. This design features an artistic rendering of the following picture, taken at a 1934 parade where the Kingfish himself marched with the Golden Band from Tigerland. Beneath the trio of leaders appears Louisiana’s state motto.

LSU Libraries Special Collections

A brief bit of history: Huey took particular interest in LSU’s band during his tenure in the governor’s mansion and is responsible for the GBFTL’s transition from a military band to a show band. LSU still prominently features tunes written by Huey and former bandleader Castro Carazo today. Underneath Huey and the drum majors is Louisiana’s state motto. Simple enough!

Option 2 – Louisiana Purchase

This option was the runner-up in the poll, but CustomInk Fundraising allows me to run a concurrent fundraiser for the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank. Since interest was solid enough (the Huey shirt won out by a 57-43 margin with about 250 people voting), I decided to set up a page for folks who preferred this design that features the United States outlined in gold with a solid, stylized map of the Louisiana Purchase down the middle. It serves as a reminder that Louisiana is vital to our nation’s history, from the Gulf all the way up to Canada. (Also I really really really like this design)

If you are able, please buy a shirt. The proceeds of your purchase can turn into multiple meals for food-insecure citizens of the Capital Region. No one should go hungry on gameday or any day. Thank you for your time!