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HALF UNITED; FULL COMMITMENT
Half United founders Carmin Black and her brother Christian didn’t set out to better the world through their professional lives. Yet that is exactly the path they now navigate. Each purchase of one of their company’s apparel items or accessories provides food to hungry children. To date, their customers have made possible more than 200,000 meals for children in the United States and around the world.
“Everything we’ve been through in life led us to this point,” says Carmin, a former television reporter, who later worked as a public speaker for TOMS—the company that set new standards in corporate philanthropy by donating a pair of shoes to needy kids for each pair purchased.
All elements of her past coalesced during an enthusiastic speaking appearance. She recalled memories growing up as
a pastor’s daughter in a family where every male member was in the clergy,
as well as her mother’s endeavors in the fashion industry. She remembered the mission trips in which she and her brother participated. She was reminded of her service as her sorority’s philanthropic chairperson. The energy created by the combination of charity, business and brand passion fused for her in front of
that audience. It was one of those moments that changed everything that happened next.
She placed a call to Christian, who was in L.A. trying to launch an apparel business, suggesting that they join forces to create a company with a charitable focus. They borrowed $200 from their mother and
the venture has grown in the years since. They now sell a variety of goods, including
jewelry and T-shirts. Some of their most popular items feature recycled bullet casings, turning a symbol of harm into a sign of hope, representing their fight against hunger.
TOMS, Carmin believes, cracked the code that unites business and philanthropy by communicating the impact each consumer has on the world by buying one of their products. For Half United, that unique formula means that each time a product
is purchased, seven children receive meals. “Hunger is something every human can
relate to,” says Carmin.
The founders closely vet the charities
they work with around the world. On a
trip to Haiti, for instance, they examined the operations of Papillion Enterprise, an organization that employs local artisans to make some of the jewelry Half United sells,
providing a source of income
so impoverished parents can feed their children.
Carmin insisted on accompanying one
of the workers home, a journey down
dirt roads and over a ravine filled with
trash and goats. They eventually entered
a shantytown, navigating four-foot wide alleys through the shacks. When they arrived at the worker’s home, the mother shifted a plywood door to the side, proudly showing off her kitchen, featuring charcoal on a dirt floor. “Where do you sleep?” queried the entrepreneur. The woman revealed a second room where her children slept on packing materials—the same ones used by the charitable organization to
ship jewelry to Half United. “My heart hurt for them,” says Carmin, who purchased proper mattresses for the family before leaving the country.
While Carmin and her brother are literally in the trenches at times, she points out that the retailers who sell Half United’s products—and the consumers who
buy them—are the ones making the difference. “You have no idea how much your purchase matters in the lives of people around the world. Ultimately,
you are the ones feeding people; we just facilitate that transaction.”
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