I stared at Shopify on my phone. One hundred thousand orders. The number was staggering. A milestone I never thought I’d reach when we first started Organ Mountain Outfitters. It wasn’t just about the orders, though—it was what they represented.

Community. Impact. A dream fulfilled.

I thought back to the beginning, sitting in my 5th-grade classroom. My toes poked through the too-small sneakers I wore on the first day of school. My outfit—a pair of blue sweatpants and a yellow Ocean Pacific T-shirt from Dollar General—wasn’t new like everyone else’s.

At my desk, I drew logos of Nike, Adidas, and Reebok in my notebook. I dreamed of my own logo someday—of a clothing line that would make life better for kids like me. Kids from broken homes, kids who went to bed hungry, kids who couldn’t afford school lunches.

But dreams like that felt impossibly far away.

Years later, meeting a woman from Las Cruces changed everything. She taught me about family, tradition, and stability—things I’d never had growing up. Her parents were small business owners who spent over 30 years serving their community. Her father, Mark Stansell, became a mentor to me.

Mark taught me lessons that shaped who I am today: how to care for a family, the importance of consistency, and the value of treating everyone with respect. When we lost him to cancer in July 2016, it was devastating. That same month, we set up our first booth at the Farmers Market. It was a bittersweet beginning, marked by loss and hope.

Organ Mountain Outfitters wasn’t just a company—it was a mission.

That year, we set out to do something bold: pay off the school lunch debt for families in Las Cruces Public Schools. Because of you—our community—we achieved that goal. Title 1 legislation ensured no family would ever face that burden again.

But hunger doesn’t end there.

In 2025, we’re still fighting. Children and families still go hungry, especially on weekends. That’s why we’ve partnered with Casa de Peregrinos in Las Cruces and Feeding America to provide meals for those in need. Our goal is ambitious: to donate over one million meals back to families.

Every shirt you buy helps make that happen.

I closed the dashboard, thinking about how far we’d come—from the boy dreaming in his notebook to the company that’s now changed countless lives.

“Buy a shirt, give a lunch, change your community.” That’s been our mission since day one.

And we’re just getting started.