MISSION
The Love Hard mission is dedicated to fostering love and a sense of community through local grass-roots charities, groups, and individuals.
ORIGIN
After the sudden and unexpected loss of our 2-year-old son, Cash, we found ourselves trying to find a way to honor and carry forward the love and joy he brought to this world. He was our youngest child – “our BOY“ – joining his two older sisters, London and Harper, in 2015. He was our fighter, who came through multiple surgeries at birth and 41-days in NICU to lead a vibrant life in his short time with us.
Several days after Cash’s passing, following the initial silence that accompanies such an awful time, I sat around a table with friends and family who had come to support us…and began telling stories. Thinking about the impact Cash had on our lives, I spoke about how I nursed him longer than his sisters. How I rocked him to sleep at night his ENTIRE life – not because he demanded it, but because I could. How I cuddled him longer, HARDER. Kissed him HARD. Loved him HARD. How we loved Cash as hard as we possibly could during his time on this earth.
And that’s how LOVE HARD was born.
PURPOSE
We searched for a cause in honor of Cash and his legacy, some way to give back and carry his spirit forward. Due to the nature of his death, nothing quite made sense. Then, a wonderful, organic thing happened. Our support system, the “Go Girls” as we call them, sprang into action. They created the LOVE HARD image and made shirts with the logo for all of us to wear as we celebrated Cash’s life together. Next, a friend donated the LOVE HARD hats, and we all started wearing both as our small way of staying close to Cash and remembering how much we loved watching beautiful sunsets together.
Remarkably, it began to spread. People started sending pictures with their loved ones wearing the shirts and hats while doing something that showed them LOVING HARD. Photos with their kids and family members. People just celebrating life and living in the moment. I cannot explain how full our hearts felt when we saw the pictures. How touched we were when people beyond our direct personal circles began asking for the hats and shirts. Eventually, we were able to get another supply of LOVE HARD hats and we began selling them with 100% of the proceeds going into this newly established LOVE HARD movement.
The LOVE HARD phenomenon had begun. This natural way of honoring Cash’s love of life and leaving a legacy as a family that chooses to LOVE HARD through it all. We do it for Cash. We do it for our daughters. We do it because it’s the only thing that makes sense for us. We finally have something we can get behind. Something we can support. Something to extend Cash’s way of living.
We didn’t expect LOVE HARD to make such an impression on people and we are overjoyed that now, as a charity, we are able to organically identify and help other families that have experienced a sudden and unexpected loss. Whether it be the loss of a child or a parent to young children, our goal is simply to be there with them and do what we can to relieve even a moment’s burden when the grief is so strong they can hardly think straight.
