The concept of helping others and giving back is something that Jaden Smith has inherited from his family.
He was a crucial cog in the JUSTwater campaign, which helped bring safe drinking water to the citizens of Flint, Michigan, and was largely responsible for its success.
After that, the rapper and actor celebrated his 21st birthday two years ago by launching the I Love You Restaurant, a vegan food truck venture that aims to address food insecurity for the homeless population of Los Angeles.
His food website explains that their mission is to “spread love to communities that are experiencing food and/or housing insecurity by offering water along with fresh, high-quality, and delicious sustainable meal options.”
“Our mission is to spread love to communities that are experiencing food and/or housing insecurity by offering water along with fresh, high-quality,
The vegan meals prepared by Smith 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 assist citizens in Harlem, New York City, who were in danger.
According to what he shared with COMPLEX, “[we were] not allowed to really bring our food truck down to Skid Row and personally distribute it out to folks because of the obvious reasons.”
“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 this other things. If you don’t have a home, you can’t just sit around doing nothing…
As a result, we have been giving away all that we possibly can, including vegan food, masks, clothing, hand sanitizer, and a wide variety of other items.
Smith is making yet another adjustment to his I Love You idea, despite the fact that normalcy has not yet returned.
Smith is capitalizing on the success of his previous endeavors in order to move onto the next phase of his project, which involves making plans for a more permanent, non-rolling version of his restaurant.
The “pay as you can” philosophy that the new venture is based on borrows 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 following one.
However, Smith is taking the “feel-good” tradition one step further than it has been done in the past.
Those who are able to afford the suggested menu pricing will, in fact, be subsidizing meals for those who are unable to afford them.
This will be the case even though everyone will be invited to partake in the feast served at the site that has not yet been identified.
According to what Smith said to Variety, “It’s for homeless folks to obtain free food.”
“However, if you aren’t living on the streets, you not only have to pay for the meal, but you also have to pay for more than the food is actually worth so that you can pay for the person who is waiting behind you.”
Although it appears to be a wonderful opportunity for us to be on the receiving end of some positive karma, we have one question… Would it be possible to have vegan fries with that?