IT'S ALL ABOUT TIMING...
I can't remember where the idea for a screen printing company at Love City actually came from. A few years ago Shawn and I and some of our team members were trying to come up with ideas for some new t-shirts. We had shirts with the basic Love City logo printed a few months earlier and they were very popular with people coming to visit Love City. Some how through the conversation the idea came up that we should open our own screen printing shop, then we could just print whatever t-shirts we wanted when we wanted. The next couple of years the idea was always in the back of our minds but we didn't actively pursue it. One thing we have learned through Love City, is that timing is not always something we have control over. Things will fall into place, when things fall into place.
A trip to Lynch, Kentucky...
Then in June 2018 we were on a trip to visit a couple that lived in Lynch Kentucky who had started a community development effort to revitalize the town. A lot of the principles they believed in and followed were similar to Love City, work with the gifts of the local community to bring in economic sustainability and equip the neighbors there to do the work.
They had started a coffee shop next to long abandoned coal mines, opened a guest house in the old mine hospital for visiting volunteers and the fledgling tourist industry. They also had a summer camp property just outside of town in the mountains where they had horses, cabins, lakes, all the things you need for a great summer camp experience.
We were on a tour of the camp when they opened a door to a room by accident and our tour guide said, "oh, sorry, I thought that room had been emptied." Closing the door he said, "this used to be our screen printing company, we used to make shirts for campers, and for local businesses around the area, but we closed it down when we decided to focus more on the horses and
expanding the camp." Shawn and I looked at each other, could this be the timing we had been waiting for? We asked to take a look at the equipment. It was a complete screen printing company, down to the machines that print the screens, and even the ink. The door had been closed when they decided to change directions and it had sat idle since.
We met up later that day with the couple that started the ministry for dinner and asked them about the screen printing shop. They confirmed that they were looking to sell the equipment just to recoup their initial investment. For $10,000 they would sell us the entire shop, equipment, screens, printers, wash bay, even the ink they had left. It was a heck of a deal, we
just didn't have the $10,000 yet. We shook hands on the deal and left to come home to Louisville.
Late in 2019, that same couple came to Louisville to visit friends. We were invited to a dinner with them by some mutual acquaintances. Through the course of the dinner one of our acquaintances that also knew the couple from Lynch, brought up the screen printing equipment. We recounted the story of visiting Lynch, seeing the equipment and making the deal, we were just waiting until we had the $10,000. Another guest at the dinner listened intently to the story. He had been invited to the dinner and didn't really know us or the other couple from Lynch. At the end of the story, he unexpectedly spoke up and said, "well, I'll give you the $10,000, consider it a done deal, I'll write you a check and you can go pick up the equipment."
Finally in September of 2020, Shawn and I were on the road with a trailer hooked up to the truck, on our way to Lynch, Kentucky to pick up a screen printing shop. We loaded it up and brought it all back to Louisville, setting it up in the back room of St Cecilia church. None of us knew how to print shirts, so again, we waited.
Enter Alan..
In February of 2021 Shawn was working at Porkland when he ran into Alan buying fish with one of his co-workers from the trucking company downtown. Alan had been coming to get fish at Love City since the fish fry was at the Mackin building. He worked close by on the west side of downtown Louisville and loved the mission of Love City and supporting the neighborhood. Usually Shawn would have just said hi in passing, but that day, he felt prompted to stop and chat with Alan. "You and I should grab a coffee sometime," Shawn said, which was unusual for Shawn to ask Alan, but Alan agreed and said "that would be great, what about Thursday next week?" Shawn agreed and they made arrangements. When Thursday came, Shawn contacted Alan and said how about you just come over to the house for lunch?
That Thursday, Alan came over for lunch. We chatted about his family, his work, and Shawn asked him, "Alan, if you could do whatever you wanted to do, what do you feel like you're being called to, what's next for Alan?" Alan responded that he had actually been thinking a-lot about that recently, he liked his job, but just felt like he was being prompted to do something more. He had some entrepreneurial ideas he was thinking about, but was just praying through what he should be doing. Alan only had a 30 minute lunch break and he had to head back to the office, so Shawn said, let's talk more about that next week. Alan agreed and headed back to his office.
Later that evening Alan called Shawn. "Shawn," he said, "you are never going to believe what happened today. When I went back to work after having lunch with you, our manager came in and announced to our department of about 4 people was being eliminated and that we were all laid off. They gave us time to pack up our things and walked us out of the building and that was it, I don't have a job anymore." Shawn didn't miss a beat and said, well let's meet tomorrow and talk about what that might look like.
The next day Shawn, Alan and I met, and we told him the story of how we got the screen printing shop. Alan hand't done screen printing before, but he had an entrepreneurial spirit, was eager to learn and research new things, and we needed someone to take on setting up and running the print shop. Alan asked if he could pray about it and went home to consider what he should do. A few days later Alan called us back and said he would love to take on starting up the print shop, and St C's Tees was born.
Over the next few months Alan set up all the equipment, taught himself how to run it, wrote manuals on how to use all the equipment and the process of printing shirts. We launched the St C's Tees brand, did some internal printing for Mighty Oak Academy and got a couple of custom orders. In August Alan came to us and said that he had an interview with another organization that he
was really excited about, we were excited for him and that he was finding more about what he was being called to do. Even though he didn't get that job, he decided to go out on his own and follow some entrepreneur ideas he had and left Love City as a formal team member in October 2021. We are so thankful to Alan for stepping out and helping put together and start the screen print company and train the next person to take over.
Welcome Eli...
In August 2021 Mighty Oak Academy started its first full academic year. Our new Kindergarten teacher, Hannah, mentioned in passing to Shawn one day, that her brother Eli, would really like Love City, that she had told him about it and he was going to come down for a visit. The next week Eli came down to Love City and met with Shawn. Eli is an artist, he paints murals, and also, he love creating and designing clothes. Through the course of the conversation we learned that Eli always wanted to learn how to do screen printing. He was working at Porter Paints at the time and Shawn pitched to him the idea of coming on staff at Love City and doing a combo of things, running St C's Tees, painting murals on our properties and even teaching art over at Mighty Oak Academy. Eli thought his dream job had just landed in his lap.
He started full time at Love City in September 2021. Alan taught him everything he had learned about screen printing before he went on to follow his dreams and then Eli was off and running. If you've been to Porkland recently you've seen Eli's work with the latest mural of the story of the fish fry or outside with the Love Wins mural.
Now that Eli is settled we're ready to officially launch St C's Tees!
St C's Tees is open and ready! Not only do we take special orders we also have some designs available for sale at both Porkland and online. We have revamped our website and can take online orders as well as requests for quotes for custom apparel.
St C's Tees retail shop is located inside Porkland BBQ. Here we will be displaying all our latest designs and have them available for purchase when Porkland is open. You will also be able to order any of these designs online by going to www.stcstees.com/ourwork or by clicking the button below.
We also have an updated Request a Quote form on our website. If you have an idea for a shirt or need something printed please reach out to us for a quote. Our minimum order is 50 shirts. Click the button below to request a quote.
We're excited to officially launch St C's Tees! Please share with your friends and family and help us get the word out!
It's almost that time of year again! We are one month away from the start of Lent and Fish Fry Season! We have fish year round, so make sure you stop by soon to grab some fish to stay warm while it's cold outside!
2519 St Cecilia St
Monday - Thursday 11am - 2pm
Friday 11am - 7pm
www.porklandbbq.com
PARTNER WITH US
At Love City we believe in time, talent and treasure.
Mighty Oak Academy Amazon Wish List
We've started the new semester and our supplies of snacks and breakfast items are running low. You can find some on our Amazon wish list, but if you make a grocery run or Sam's club/Costco run and can pick up an extra box of any of the following we would appreciate it!
Granola bars
Yogurt cups or GoGurt
cereal
Veggie Straws
Goldfish/CheezIts
If you would like to partner with the school, you can visit our Amazon wish list and purchase items to ship directly to the school. Visit this link to view the list: https://a.co/77dqBIT
If you are interested in volunteering or to find out more information about supplies needed please email: info@lovecityinc.org or call (502) 272-078.
Please consider partnering financially with Love City. We are looking for sponsors for students at Mighty Oak Academy as well as partners to help fund construction of our new preschool. Click the button below to donate today.