Tiger fans can now show their school spirit and support the area’s homeless at the same time. When purchasing an LSU-themed blanket from With a Purpose, the new company will provide another blanket to a Baton Rouge resident in need.
The company will launch its first line, “Blanket for Blanket,” today at Whole Foods locations throughout Louisiana and online at Amazon.com.
Online the blanket is $45, but LSU fans can use a special 10 percent discount code: GOTIGERS10
For each product sold, Blanket for Blanket gives another blanket to a homeless person through Baton Rouge’s Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
With a Purpose, although founded in Los Angeles, aims to help non-profit organizations around the U.S. provide for the needs of their local communities through a one-for-one initiative.
With A Purpose founder Josh Helland wanted to help the homeless after his previous work with “A Good Night Sleep” foundation, which supplies beds and bedding essentials to people making the transition from the streets to permanent housing.
“Working with that foundation really opened my eyes to the homelessness arena, ” Helland said.
Helland said that being an entrepreneur in the non-profit world is challenging because of the lack of sustainability, so he wanted to create something more sustainable that would allow his business to support other non-profits.
“We were looking to do a one-for-one blanket line, and we thought ‘Who would want to buy this?’” Helland said. “The idea to do college blankets popped up, and immediately I said ‘Oh my gosh, that’s brilliant.’”
Helland had always dreamed of incorporating college sports into one of his products, so this was a perfect fit.
LSU was at the top of Helland’s list of schools to include in the Blanket for Blanket initiative because LSU is such a huge university.
Helland, who graduated from Southern Methodist University with TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie,said he has been following the TOMS one-for-one model for a while and wanted to develop something similar.
Helland’s emphasis is on having non-profits connected with the company so there is full transparency and people are able to see exactly where their purchase is going to.
“Many don’t realize the number of people who deal with homelessness in Baton Rouge,” said Michael Acaldo, CEO of Baton Rouge’s Society of St. Vincent de Paul. “When I was at LSU, I didn’t realize there was a homeless population in our community, and I definitely didn’t realize the extent of it.”
Acaldo said that on an average day as many as 1000 people come to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s downtown campus for a meal, a bed and other various services the organization offers.
“If we could get 10,000 blankets through the Blanket for Blanket program, we could find a home for each blanket,” Acaldo said. “We were excited when Josh contacted us because we can use every blanket we can get our hands on.”
Blanket for Blanket is currently paired with LSU and six other colleges to promote its initiative.