As some students spent the dog days of a pandemic summer sitting at home, juniors Lia and Lucas Davila built an organization to fight food insecurity.
Their creation, Rustic Love, raises money for food insecure families and restaurants in the area. What makes Rustic Love unique is the iconic heart signs, which are intended to fight donor fatigue.
“Donor fatigue is a real thing, where you just keep donating and donating and donating,” Davila said. “But when you get something actually physical in return, especially something that’s made by local high schoolers, it’s super cool. It was just like an added bonus.”
To keep a connection with the donors, the Davilas said they were inspired to create and distribute heart signs. They said soon after, the signs spread throughout the community faster than expected.
“It 100% exploded more than any of us ever thought,” Lia said. “We started with 12 signs, and now have made over 3,000 signs, and we’ve raised over $160,000.”
Lucas agreed.
“When you see a lot of kids helping to raise money for food insecure families and local restaurants, it brings warmth and it just makes everyone really happy,” Lucas said. “Of course, why wouldn’t you want to help out? I think that’s why it expanded really quickly.”
In addition to their heart signs, Rustic Love now sells more heart-themed merchandise. Their main goal is to expand and raise money for the food insecurity in the community.
“The community has really brought attention to issues that need to be addressed,” Lucas said.
In addition to the families and restaurants it serves, Rustic Love has had an impact on the co-founders themselves.
“It’s just been incredibly heartwarming, seeing the positive effects that we’ve been able to create on our community,” Lia said, “Seeing all the people that we’ve been able to help, and to actually see the result of the work we’ve done is really cool.”
The Davilas plan to grow Rustic Love in the future, building a stronger community against food insecurity.