On May 14, 2010, I Miss You, Inc. (IMU) released a special-edition Steve Breaston T-shirt to raise money for the Steve Breaston Foundation and support IMU’s mission of making communities better. “I Am What It Is” is a shirt that reflects a poem Breaston wrote specifically for this project based on his experiences growing up in North Braddock, an eastern suburb of Pittsburgh.
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In collaboration with David Merritt, a former University of Michigan basketball player and owner of IMU, Breaston constructed an original written piece that inspired a unique shirt design to be part of IMU’s summer line. Breaston was inspired by the community work that Merritt does with his shirt company, as he wanted to showcase his creativity while giving back to his community.An initiative that Breaston is currently working on is creating a center similar to the Boys and Girls Club where kids can go to study. When Breaston and his brother were growing up, they had access to a Boys and Girls Club in North Braddock that has since closed. With support from the Steve Breaston Foundation, he hopes to promote positive images of the community that raised him.
Breaston has enjoyed writing since junior high school, and when Merritt asked him to create something for his community, Breaston was already in the process of writing. When he finished his poem, he knew he had created something that people in his hometown could relate to and understand.
“It’s fun understanding that you can do something for people that supported you growing up and have always been by your side,” he said.
Breaston chose apparel as the platform to help raise money for his foundation because he believes that it is a noticeable form of expression. What message is Breaston looking to send with the “I Am What It Is” T-shirt?
He said, “It’s more just about giving back. I love where I’m from and I love the people in North Braddock. I’m glad they support me and what I do, not as a football player, but as a person.”
The goal of Breaston’s foundation is to set up after-school programs that promote education and fitness. He believes these programs, along with a supportive community, will help steer kids in a positive direction, just as the programs in his community did for him.
Breaston is looking forward to creating another shirt design for Merritt’s campaign, as well as reaching out to many kids in Arizona by hosting a skateboarding event. Fans can expect Breaston to “just do a little something different and get close with the kids out there in Arizona.”
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“I Am What It Is”
I don’t regret what I did and I’m not shameful for where I’ve lived. Remembering how I took cookies from under the babysitter’s lid.
I am what it is, a product of Red Nerds and overflowing pop fizz, red stains on my shirt as I played games around the church... Wiffle balls in the lots where I slid in rocks instead of dirt, for this felt good it never hurt... Grilled government cheese is how my parents made it work, with these memories I go to work...
Or Zips’ corner store, where a bag of fish was 25 cents and not a nickel more, add a quarter and that’s what you can get a pickle for, and sure there were a few pickles I got into... But few questioned the things that I might do...
Even if I did, but I fight through because they reminded me that I was in reach of what’s under my eyelids...
My dreams, the reason there are more than eleven on my team. For my little league friends in heaven know what I mean, and by any means, I will show the light of my birthplace, the community that showed me that victor is not always the one who stands in the first place, the basis on why I’m here in the first place...
For these memories are what I'm worth,
And for what it's worth, I think about them first.
-Steve Breaston
