About Us

The Word was "Hope"

The idea for HappyShirts.Org came one cold and rainy afternoon on the streets of New York City.

A homeless woman was leaning up against the side of a large office building as hurried New Yorkers rushed by. She had an outstretched hand and a sign asking for some spare change.

I took notice of her because she was humming an upbeat tune, which surprised me for someone in her circumstances. As I placed some change in her hand, I said warmly, “you seem to be having a good day.”

She replied emphatically, “I am” and then smiled widely.

I asked her what her secret was to staying so positive and she said, “I just think about the good things…just the good things.” She then pointed to her shirt and said, “so I don’t forget.”

I looked down at her shirt and saw some handwritten letters which I couldn’t understand. She saw the confused look on my face and then turned towards the building and pointed to her shirt once again. This time I saw it. When I looked at her reflection in the office building’s window, I saw that the letters on her shirt were actually a mirror image of a word. The word was “hope.”

The woman had written this word on her shirt, in mirror image form, so that every time she saw her reflection in a building window, she'd be reminded that her life would get better some day.