I was all set to bore you guys with a long-winded post about how I was born & raised in Virginia and horrified by the terror attack in Charlottesville this past weekend, but you know what? Trae Crowder articulates it a lot more effectively than I ever could.

Also, warning: salty language ahead. But you know what else? FUCK NAZIS, and FUCK the disgrace of a "president" that champions them, the KKK, and the rest of their ilk. Sorry, Mom.

Now that we have that public service announcement out of the way, here's another one:

Retroactive to August 11th (the night those sad excuses for human beings first held their "vigil" in C'ville) and running through August 31st, Boredwalk is donating 10% of our gross revenue from our website to CityOfPromise.org. This means that if you buy one t-shirt from us for $25.00, City of Promise gets $2.50. If you buy eight t-shirts from us for $200.00, City of Promise gets $20.00. You get it; you guys are smart!

We of course would greatly appreciate you all spreading the word about this promotion, either by forwarding this blog link to friends & family who might be interested, or sharing about it on social media, as the more stuff we sell the more we can donate to CoP, but understand if you'd rather not.

So what is City of Promise? For an in-depth description, please check out this mini-documentary about the program, but in a nutshell CoP is a network of educators, elected officials, business leaders, and other service providers in Charlottesville that work together using a data-driven approach to improve educational and career opportunities for children (and, in many cases, young parents) in three adjacent high-poverty neighborhoods in Charlottesville — Starr Hill, Westhaven, and the area around the 10th and Page intersection with a focus on STEAM curricula (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math). CoP also promotes improved health & wellness in the community via the planting and maintaining of community gardens in the neighborhoods by the children taking part in CoP's programs.

Why City of Promise? While we could donate to the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, or the Southern Poverty Law Center — all worthy organizations, to be sure — those nonprofits are widely recognized and get plenty of money from all manner of donors on a daily basis, and we wanted to focus our efforts on a smaller Charlottesville-specific organization that:

a.) focuses on education and career development from birth to graduation, be it from high school, college, vocational programs, or other professional programs,

b.) uses a data-driven approach to guide its deployment of funds, and

c.) produces measurable, objective results in improving the lives of the children and families in Charlottesville now and into the future, and strengthens a great community in the wake of the terrible violence and hatred visited upon it last weekend.

Plus, being a smaller organization, the funds we're raising for City of Promise will make a bigger and more immediate impact for them than if we donated the same amount of money to one of the larger nonprofits with a less local, more national purview. You know what they say: think global, act local.

This promotion applies to ALL Boredwalk items, but if you don't want to buy a tee or sweatshirt and just want to donate directly to City of Promise, please do!

Remember: we are stronger together, and this is not normal.

Peace, love, and tacos,

Boredwalk