Jaden Smith is renewing attention toward his I Love You brand, a nonprofit launched in 2019 that serves free meals to Los Angeles’ unhoused population. Smith recently shared he wants to expand the brand’s initiatives and focus on it long-term.
What is Jaden Smith’s I Love You organization?
Initially, I Love You was launched as a food truck serving free vegan meals to the homeless population in Los Angeles’ Skid Row, an area known for its high concentration of unhoused people. Smith plans to re-focus on the brand and eventually expand it beyond Los Angeles.
“Honestly, my dream in life is to have a building on Skid Row where I can give out free meals every single day: breakfast, lunch, dinner,” he said in a video posted on TikTok on Saturday, according to People. “I can do things inside of it. I can create jobs and a good vibe. That’s my dream. That’s my long-term goal.”
“I just want you guys to come along this journey with me and I want the I Love You community to support me while I’m trying to do this. That’s my real golden dream,” Smith added.
Meals served as part of the intuitive were created in collaboration with chef and co-founder Tabitha Leeper because “everyone deserves access to the healthiest food options, no matter their financial situation,” the I Love You website reads.
The organization notes that each activation serves up to 500 hot meals, bottles of water and donating clothing. As Billboard reported, the goal is to eventually create a brick-and-mortar location to consistently serve three meals a day, with a long-term goal of expanding the initiative to other areas in the country and the world. Smith also hopes to host an annual gala to support the organization, as well as launch other nonprofits in order to help make positive changes in the world.
@jaden Wear I Love You. Valentine’s Day. 9 AM PT/12 PM ET. iloveyou.restaurant @iloveyou.restaurant ♬ original sound – Jaden
Jaden Smith released merch to support the initiative’s expansion
Smith recently released a limited line of merchandise to support I Love You’s expansion goals. A black t-shirt ($45) and a black hoodie ($89) were made available for purchase on the organization’s website. Both items feature two different iterations of “I Love You Restaurant” on the front and include a sentence printed on the back, which reads, “Not a volunteer just a person trying to be the change I want to see in the world.”
All proceeds from the sales will go toward providing meals through the I Love You restaurant. Smith said donations to the organization only come from corporations and not individuals. It is why he launched merch, so that people can contribute to the initiative.
“We only get our donations from big corporations that actually want to be involved. We’re for the people, and funded by the people, is what we say,” he told Hypebeast in an interview published on Feb. 16. “This merch drop is my way to allow the people, and even those who haven’t been on the ground volunteering with us, to feel like they are part of the community. It’s more of a spiritual purpose. And that’s what I think fashion is about, an indication, from afar, of the kind of person you are.”
Smith also shared the reasons why he decided to launch the initiative. He pointed to two experiences in which he said he was confronted with homelessness in Los Angeles. Smith shared that he shot several of his music videos in downtown Los Angeles, near Skid Row, while making his 2019 album, ERYS.
“When I was making the ERYS album, that’s when I was really confronted with what was going down on Skid Row. All of the music videos for that album were shot in downtown LA. I realized I can’t just come here and, like, use the backdrop that’s been created, without giving back,” he told Hybebeast.
Smith also pointed to his experience filming the 2006 film The Pursuit of Happyness in San Francisco and in which he starred alongside his father Will Smith.
“We hired homeless people to be extras in the film, and it’s part of the reason why the movie feels so real,” Smith told Hypebeast. “That also just really engraved the realities of Skid Row into my brain. Those early experiences on Skid Row, combined with the experience of EYRS, just made me have this feeling of wanting to actively give back.”