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I often find “cause” t-shirts fall into two different categories. Either they are crappy shirts that no one would wear that rely upon your desire to support the cause as the only motivation to buy them, so they can then sit in your drawer for years only to be eventually thrown away or turned into rags. On the other hand they are good shirts that donate such a tiny percentage of their profits to the cause it’s really just a sales gimmick and does very little good in the world, that ambiguous statements like “a portion of the proceeds”, whatever that means.

Rosa Loves seems to fall in a different category entirely, these are some great designs, and printed well, additionally a full 60% of the profits from the t-shirt go toward the specific cause that the t-shirt was printed for. The other thing that makes Rosa Loves different is that each t-shirt is designed for a specific cause, the t-shirt above for instance is to support the Sharkar family in Bangladesh and the funds are for a very specific aim. Each t-shirt has a story attached to it which details the specific people that the funds are going to help and what the goals are, in fact the t-shirts even have the story of the people that are going to be helped screened on the inside of the T-Shirt.

Life had not always been this way for Mr. Sharkar. He used to work as a rickshaw puller spending his days transporting villagers throughout Netrokona. Back then, he could work with dignity earning a living wage and providing for a growing family. Unfortunately, two months ago Mr. Sharkar was forced to stop pulling his rickshaw due to the growth of a tumor on the right side of his throat. His older son, Babul, had to take over his father’s job of pulling a rented rickshaw. Babul pulls this rented rickshaw three days out of the week earning a mere 97 cents per day minus what he owes the rickshaw owner. Now the family relies on Babul to bring enough income to provide for the seven member family.

After we met Mr. Sharkar, his wife Mrs. Rita Rani arrived along with the rest of the Shorkar family: Babul, Noyon (a ten year old boy), and Purnima (a one year old girl). Through speaking with Mrs. Rita Rani, we became saddened to learn that the entire family had not been able to eat proper meals, resulting from the lack of income. She is so malnourished that she cannot even lactate to breastfeed Purnima. Malnourishment is the overriding reason why Babul can only work three days out the week. He simply lacks the energy and proper nutritional diet to pull the rickshaw. She further told us that Noyon also contributed to the family by fishing at the local pond, but seldom is successful.

Mrs. Rita Rani went on to tell us that the entire family has devoted a substantial amount of time to Mr. Sharkar; including Kobita, who withdrew from school in order to help take care of her two younger siblings.

A few days after meeting the Shorkar family, we took Mr. Sharkar to the hospital for emergency treatment. Sadly, he passed away three hours after being admitted to the hospital. We, along with Mrs. Rita Rani, Mr. Sharkar’s brother, and some villagers, returned Mr. Shorkar’s body back to his home. The pain of witnessing this family react to the loss of a husband and a father was almost unbearable.

The Sharkar family falls under IIRD’s classification of “extreme hardcore poor”. They lack proper economic assets such as a vegetable garden, livestock, or a rickshaw. In addition, they live under deplorable housing conditions, lack access to a proper education, and are experiencing malnutrition.

Through our friends at Rosa Loves and IIRD, we are now planning to aid the Sharkars. We plan to purchase a rickshaw for Babul, repairing and extending their current house, and providing Mrs. Rita Rani with a livestock-rearing program. In addition, the community will receive a Child Development Center to help educate first and second grade students. This will include Kobita and Shanto, as well as Purnima once she is of age.

This was recently written up by Springwise which is an excellent site for new business ideas, and Good Magazine which is dedicated to issues surrounding doing practical good in the world.