Last week, San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Justin Smith met with the media while wearing a "Sack Francisco" t-shirt. People quickly jumped on board with this t-shirt design, both in the comments and on Twitter.
Well, good news! The shirt will soon be available for sale, along with some other merchandise, seen above. More importantly, in buying this merchandise, you will be able to help feed hungry kids in the Bay Area. Aldon Smith, NaVorro Bowman and Dan Skuta have all gotten involved to help promote a worthwhile cause. They were involved in the design process, as were other folks, and they came up with several pieces of gear. We've seen the shirt, but above, you can see that shirt, plus a Bowman "ST53NGTH" shirt, a DEFENSE hat, and a Sack Francisco letterman's jacket.
All of these will soon be available for purchase at SackFrancisco.com. The site is set up with a pre-launch page while they continue getting it sorted out. They are hoping to be ready by the end of the week, but nothing is set in stone. In the meantime, you can also check out the Sack Francisco Facebook page.
I spoke with one of the organizers of this, and the plan is that for every piece of merchandise purchase, a sack lunch will be donated to a child in need in the Bay Area. And yes, the phrase "sack" lunch was purposefully considered in this. In 2013, the US Department of Agriculture released a report stating that 49 million people live in "food insecure" households. Food insecurity is a situation of "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways." According to Feeding America, in 2012, San Francisco County and Santa Clara County each had an estimated 20% of the under-18 population suffering from food insecurity. That is an estimated 84,000 kids in Santa Clara, and 21,000 kids in San Francisco who may not be getting the proper nutrition to develop like they should.
The three players are working with Team Sack Francisco and Revolutions Foods to help make a dent in the food insecurity problem in the Bay Area. When this gear becomes available, you can join in and help the cause, while also getting some pretty awesome merchandise. I'll post an update when the merchandise is officially on sale.