Jaden Smith has inherited the concept of helping others and giving back to his family.
He was a vital cog in the JUSTwater campaign, which helped bring safe drinking water to Flint, Michigan, and was largely responsible for its success.
Following that, the rapper and actor celebrated his 21st birthday two years ago by launching the I Love You Restaurant, a vegan food truck venture aimed at addressing food insecurity among Los Angeles’ homeless population.
According to his food website, their mission is to “spread love to communities experiencing food and/or housing insecurity by providing water as well as fresh, high-quality, and delicious sustainable meal options.”
“Our mission is to spread love to communities experiencing food and/or housing insecurity by providing water as well as fresh, high-quality food.”
Smith’s vegan meals were delivered to 8,000 people living on Skid Row in Los Angeles. I Love You’s efforts were eventually expanded so that they could help vulnerable citizens in Harlem, New York City.
“[We] were not allowed to really bring our food truck down to Skid Row and personally distribute it out to folks for obvious reasons,” he told COMPLEX.
“You’re thinking about everything that’s going to happen with COVID-19 and how people are going to have to stay home and all of these
other things. You can’t just sit around doing nothing if you don’t have a place to live…
As a result, we’ve been giving away everything we can, including vegan food, masks, clothing, hand sanitizer, and a slew of other items.
Despite the fact that normalcy has not yet returned, Smith is making yet another change to his I Love You concept.
Smith is building on the success of his previous ventures to move forward with his project, which includes planning for a more permanent, non-rolling version of his restaurant.
The new venture’s “pay as you can” philosophy takes a page from the time-honored drive-through feel-good tradition of paying not only for one’s own eats but also for those of the occupant in the car behind one.
Smith, on the other hand, takes the “feel-good” tradition a step further than previous artists.
Those who can afford the suggested menu pricing will effectively be subsidizing meals for those who cannot.
This will be the case even though everyone will be invited to the feast, which will be served at an unidentified location.
“It’s for homeless people to get free food,” Smith explained to Variety.
“However, if you aren’t living on the streets, you must not only pay for the meal, but you must also pay for more than the food is actually worth in order to pay for the person who is waiting behind you.”
Although it appears to be a fantastic opportunity for us to receive some positive karma, we have one question… Is it possible to serve that with vegan fries?