Many children faced with surgery or hospitalization for a craniofacial defect are enjoying the comfort and support of a cute n’ cuddly companion. Thanks to a very special partnership between Dylan’s Smile and Greater Than Goods, this beary special effort as been able to continue - even through tough economic times.

The short-sleeve t-shirt and the long-sleeve thermal offered through Greater Than Goods have not only garnered lots of attention, but have certainly done their job in promoting our incredibly popular smile-producing free teddy bear program!

Thank you, Greater Than Goods! {And, for a limited time, enjoy $5 savings on both shirt designs!}

I love fishing. The floppy hats, nomenclature like doodlesock and hawg and its ability to serve a metaphor for self reliance and independence.

At some point everyone has come across the aphorism ‘Give a person a fish, they eat for a day. Teach a person to fish, they eat for a lifetime.’ Down in West Virginia’s Jefferson & Berkeley Counties, Friends in Action of the Eastern Panhandle is teaching people how to fish. The non-profit pairs low-income families with mentors who serve as role models and provide emotional support; help with budgeting and parenting skills; tutor a child or help a parent acquire a GED or obtain a job; celebrate the good times and help get past the rough spots.

My original thumbnail didn’t actually have the Give/Teach quote. Rather, it was a bunch of fish with a hook hanging there all cryptic. This would’ve pushed the boundaries of our screen printing department, requiring multiple screens and locations unlike any shirt we have produced yet. But it didn’t convey the Give/Teach message very well. Or at all.

Speaking of the Give/Teach quote, traditionally it has been known as “give a Man a fish/teach a man to fish” which left me to wonder about women…wouldn’t they like to learn how to fish? I changed my phrase so that everyone can enjoy fishing.

The next drawing tested the waters with integrating the text with the fish. I started working on refining the drawing with pencil. This helped flesh out the style of the letterforms and fish.

I’m a very raw designer, instead of tight and technical, so I wasn’t concerned with making everything perfect for the final product.  I traced over the pencil with a pen and scanned it. From there I worked on the computer, redrawing it yet again, refining the forms and tweaking the colors. And ta-da, the completed design!

You can land yourself one over here.

This week, our good friend Mark Wyatt, Executive Director at the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, is making his yearly bike ride across Iowa with RAGBRAI. RAGBRAI is an annual event that draws thousands of Iowans who bike from border to border. The event has attracted celebrities such as Lance Armstrong, Sheryl Crow, Tom Arnold and presidential candidates over its 37 year run.

This year, Mark brought a little bit of Greater Than Goods on the tour. He’s selling our “Another Way to Roll” bicycling shirts as well as the exclusive Iowa Bicycle Coalition shirt. Of course, $5 from each shirt sold goes directly to his group.

Help support biking, bike safety and alternative transportation by checking out this line of shirts. And good luck to all the bicyclists on RAGBRAI this year! Keep pedaling!

Food. Clothing. Shelter. Love.

That’s what our partner Orphan World Relief provides to hundreds of orphans across the world.

Most of us may not see firsthand what these children go through. (I know the closest I’ve gotten is seeing Slumdog Millionaire and commercials on TV.) But I also know that even though I may never make it across the world, there are other ways to help.

We’re trying to make it easier for people to get involved in whatever way they can. You can start with our new “Food. Clothing. Shelter. Love.” T-shirt. Not only do you send $5 to an organization that will use it to do good, but you raise awareness for orphan relief every time you wear your shirt.

Plus, check out Orphan World Relief’s other ways to get involved on their website!

P.S. We came across Orphan World Relief thanks to a co-worker who had family involved with this great cause. We’re always looking for other non-profits to serve with our cause apparel - email us your suggestions!

We are approaching the one-year anniversary of Greater Than Goods coming up in July 2009. This milestone has made us pause to think about our first cause. It was the Embrace Iowa fund, which inspired the “Greater Than Any Storm” shirt to raise money for disaster recovery and relief assistance to victims of the tornadoes and devastating flooding that took place throughout Iowa in the spring and early summer of 2008.

Our goal for Greater Than Goods has always been twofold: to raise funds for nonprofit organizations and provide a communication channel to help them spread the “good” and raise awareness. Visitors from 22 states ordered our “Storm” shirt, thereby spreading exposure for the Embrace Iowa cause from coast to coast.

As grateful as we are to everyone who bought the shirt, we need to continue on our mission. There is more that still needs to be – and can be – done to provide assistance to the people whose lives were changed. Just in the Cedar Rapids area alone, 7,198 land parcels were affected by the flood:

• 5,390 residential
• 1,049 commercial
• 84 industrial
• 51 agricultural
• 486 non-profit organizations
• 138 other

…and 72,428 tons of debris were collected and removed as of August 2008. Now the rebuilding process is underway and volunteers are needed! Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity says they are extremely shorthanded, and a blitz build of 20 houses was to begin construction in June.

So think about it, what could be better than a summer vacation helping the good go around by creating fresh starts for flood victims in Iowa?  For information on how to volunteer, follow this link: http://corridorrecovery.org/Volunteer/habitat.asp.

If coming to Iowa to volunteer is a little out of the way, you can still help with a donation we’ll make from your purchase of a Greater Than Any Storm t-shirt too!

Thanks for all you have helped us accomplish in our first year. Let’s keep doing good together!