Case Studies

Tennesssee Screen Printers Rally Their Community After Devastating Tornado

“I Believe” community-themed T-shirts supported tornado-struck towns in the area.

Published

4 years ago

March 19, 2020

tornado t-shirts from Southeast Impressions

During the early hours of March 3, a powerful and devastating tornado ripped across Middle Tennessee at speeds up to 165 miles per hour, damaging buildings and endangering lives in Nashville and its surrounding counties. Lebanon, Tennessee-based Southeast Impressions (southeastimpressions.com) luckily made it through the natural disaster without suffering structural damage, but the print shop’s surrounding community was not as fortunate.

Southeast Impressions immediately developed a plan to help their neighbors and began selling “I Believe” community-themed T-shirts with 100 percent of sales going to help those in Putnam and Wilson counties. They also held a “Free Print Day” on March 14; all the proceeds were donated to relief efforts.

“We wanted to give back the only way we know how, and that’s to print shirts,” says Ben Spurlock, owner and production manager at Southeast Impressions. “It’s going to take a lot of hard work and time to rebuild our community, and we want to help make an impact.”

The shop used the famous “I Believe in Nashville” mural in downtown Nashville to create custom, local “I Believe in Wilson County,” “I Believe in Lebanon,” “I Believe in Cookeville,” and “I Believe in Mt. Juliet” shirts. The phrase carries power in the region as the famous mural was painted as a symbol of the city’s resilience after the historic Tennessee floods of 2010.

Southeast Impressions is selling the shirts, donated by Jerzees, for $18 each on their website, with all sales going to the Putnam and Wilson County disaster relief funds.

To learn more about Southeast Impressions’ relief efforts or to join the cause, follow their social feeds on Instagram and Facebook.

Let’s Talk About It

Creating a More Diverse and Inclusive Screen Printing Industry

LET’S TALK About It: Part 3 discusses how four screen printers have employed people with disabilities, why you should consider doing the same, the resources that are available, and more. Watch the live webinar, held August 16, moderated by Adrienne Palmer, editor-in-chief, Screen Printing magazine, with panelists Ali Banholzer, Amber Massey, Ryan Moor, and Jed Seifert. The multi-part series is hosted exclusively by ROQ.US and U.N.I.T.E Together. Let’s Talk About It: Part 1 focused on Black, female screen printers and can be watched here; Part 2 focused on the LGBTQ+ community and can be watched here.