Two weeks ago, tornados ripped through middle Tennessee, killing 25 and destroying dozens of buildings. The twisters missed screen-printing shop Southeast Impressions in Lebanon, TN, by just 300 yards, says owner Ben Spurlock.

Nashville (about half an hour away from Lebanon) and surrounding communities were hit hard, however, so Spurlock decided to use his resources to help with relief efforts. “When a crisis hits, people volunteer their time or they open their pockets,” he says. “They’re looking to donate money somewhere to help someone in need. … One way we know how to give back is to make T-shirts.”

Spurlock and his team created several versions of “I Believe” T-shirts based on the iconic “I Believe in Nashville” mural, which was painted as a symbol of the city’s resilience after the Tennessee floods of 2010 and survived the destructive path of the March 3 tornados.

Just amazing. Popular concert venue The Basement East is all but destroyed, but the "I Believe In Nashville" mural was left untouched. Photo by reporter @RebeccaWSMV #TNnews #TNwx #NashvilleStrong pic.twitter.com/xE3WL657L1

— WSMV News4 Nashville (@WSMV) March 3, 2020

Southeast Impressions focused its relief efforts on designs for Wilson County, Lebanon, Cookeville and Mt. Juliet. “I wanted to gear our stuff to the smaller communities,” Spurlock says. “Nashville’s going to have a ton of support. They’re a big, big, big city.” (Indeed, many have rallied around Nashville relief, with Taylor Swift donating $1 million to the city, and a telethon featuring Swift and other musicians raising around $1.5 million.)

Southeast Impressions sold more than 1,000 “I Believe” T-shirts for $18 each, and will be donating the sales, which amounted to about $14,000 after removing the cost of shirts, to tornado relief. The shop set up a temporary online store to get the word out about its fundraiser. “It was pretty cool to see how it exploded,” Spurlock says. “Four hundred people shared it on Facebook within the first two days. The local community really rallied around it.”

Southeast Impressions in Lebanon, TN, was selling “I Believe in Lebanon” T-shirts during a Free Print Day event at its shop over the weekend.

Sales also came during a Free Print Day event the shop held on Saturday. During Free Print Days, Southeast Impressions chooses a design – for this event, it was St. Patrick’s Day themed – and people can bring in their own shirts or buy an overstock shirt from the shop for $5 and have it printed for free. The shop was also selling its tornado relief fundraiser tees at the event. Around 150 to 200 people showed up at Saturday’s event.

Southeast Impressions has been around since 1996, created by Spurlock’s parents. Spurlock has been working at the shop full time for the last seven years and is in the process of buying the business from his parents. The shop has three automatic screen-printing presses and 18 embroidery heads.

About a quarter of its business comes from contract work. “The rest is walk-in and word of mouth,” Spurlock says. “It’s crazy how many Fortune 500 companies have found us by word of mouth.” Southeast Impressions doesn’t even have an outside sales team. Despite this, the shop has been growing consistently by about 25% to 30% each year.

Southeast Impressions was recently featured in the second season opener of Adventures in Apparel Decorating, a web series sponsored by JERZEES (asi/40650) and hosted by consultant Marshall Atkinson.