May 1st has come and gone. President Obama made his visit to the University of Michigan to deliver the 2010 Spring Commencement Address. However, despite all of our efforts, and ALL of your support, we still haven’t reached him. While May 1st was the target date to conclude the Obama 4 IMU campaign, May 1st does not mark the end of this endeavor. IMU will be carrying out the intention of this campaign – to spread our message of happiness and giving back around the world by getting President Barack Obama to wear an IMU t-shirt.

We are already in the process of writing another letter to the President telling him details of our campaign thus far, and we are continuously making moves to get in contact with as many big players as possible to help move this forward. Enjoy this video chronicling our Obama 4 IMU campaign, and next time you hear from us, expect a picture with your President in an IMU tee.

Hey Everybody! I’m back to give you yet another reason why we feel Obama=IMU. As you all know, IMU is predicated on spreading happiness and giving back to the community. We already covered Obama’s community service initiatives. Now I want to touch on the happiness aspect of his Presidency. With the economy in disarray and all the other problems going on in the nation today, it’s safe to say that Obama’s job is extremely tough day in and day out. Yet he always seems to have a smile on his face, almost as if he knows everything is going to work out. That optimistic attitude is a necessity when you are the leader of the free world. It brings reassurance to the people of America and makes them feel relaxed and content. This whole idea of spreading happiness is something that we strive for at IMU, both through our unique t-shirt designs and our work in the community. Therefore, Obama acts as the perfect medium through which we could further spread our message.

Despite his hefty schedule, Obama makes sure he finds time to relax and enjoy himself. Basketball is something that truly brings a lot of passion and happiness to Obama and so he plays it as much as he can. This video here is of Obama playing Clark Kellogg is a game of Horse that was broadcast during the NCAA tournament.

-Eric Dudek

Hey all! I’m bringing you another update from our Obama4IMU campaign, and it’s definitely a big one. Yesterday, IMU had its Diag Day on the last day of classes, and to say it was successful is an understatement! Although we were out on the Diag for several hours, there was never a dull moment! The atmosphere was similar to a family reunion, especially with the BEAUTIFUL weather. The hot dogs were definitely on point, Foursquare was both fun and competitive, and our Jump Rope giveaways kept people coming back to meet us on the Diag (literally, there were people who tried to participate in the Jump Rope competition twice). We did not share the Diag alone, and we have to thank the University of Michigan’s Black Celeb Committee for adding to the laidback, fun setting.

One of the main goals of IMU’s day on the Diag was to spread awareness of our Obama 4 IMU campaign, since it is heading into its home stretch. Needless to say, we did. In the span of a little more than four hours, we got almost 150 signatures for our Obama 4 IMU petition. In addition to that, we gave away some shirts with our Jump Rope competition, spreading awareness of the IMU Brand. Not only did people discover the Obama 4 IMU campaign, but people got more insight on what IMU is about as a whole.

Overall, I do have to say: the future is certainly bright for both the Obama 4 IMU campaign, and the IMU Brand! We aimed to spread happiness the IMU way, and we definitely did. Thanks to all those who came out!!!

So the campaign is reaching its halfway point, and things are rolling along. It’s kind of ironic that Obama’s Presidential Campaign Theme Song was Stevie Wonder’s Signed, Sealed, Delivered, and one of the campaign objectives (besides spreading our message of happiness and community service) is to encourage people to sign our Obama 4 IMU petition.

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day, so we took to the Diag on a mission to get more paper signatures for Obama 4 IMU. Luckily it was Goodness Day, so we got a decent amount of people to sign on to the Obama 4 IMU movement. I asked a couple of people how they felt about our campaign, and they love our effort, and they especially enjoy our Obama 4 IMU posters and buttons.

Monday, we made huge strides towards the Obama 4 IMU campaign gaining recognition through the media and through public figures like John Conyers (don’t forget to check out the video of Rep. John Conyers OFFICIALLY endorsing our campaign).

Well, that’s all for Friday’s Obama 4 IMU post. See you all Monday.

PS: We got an event in the works for Obama 4 IMU that’s coming soon……

As we traverse to the fourteenth day in our campaign to get President Obama in an IMU tee, it’s time to move focus from our Obama 4 IMU movement to talk about something near and dear to IMU’s hearts: service. If you remember a couple posts back, one of the reasons why Obama=IMU is due to us both having emphasis on serving our communities. As a result, we feel it is important to discuss some of the Obama administration’s service-inspired initiatives.

1. The revamping and improvement of established community service entities

As his new administration entered the Oval Office, a new and improved Corporation for National and Community Service entered as well. This year, Patrick Covington was elected as the new CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and he has wasted no time in blogging for Obama’s Service site and documenting community service initiatives around the nation.

2. United We Serve

“United We Serve” is not just a tagline for Obama’s call for able citizens to give back to their communities. United We Serve is actually a part of a nationwide tour—led by Bon Jovi—to encourage concert goers to sign up to volunteer in their local communities.

3. Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary

This year marks the 40th Anniversary for Earth Day, and Obama is trying to make Earth Day 2010 one of the biggest volunteer efforts ever. Again, on Serve.gov, you can input your location, and the site will give you the nearest volunteer areas from their database. If you are interested in volunteering for Earth Day, there is hardly any excuse not to go out and improve the environment.

4. Encouragement for colleges to award community service based grants and scholarships.

Obama has encouraged both colleges and universities to award additional financial aid to those committed to community service, in order to both encourage the youth to volunteer and alleviate rising college costs. Check this article out about a girl who was offered a full-tuition scholarship last year for her service work here.

5. It’s all in the family

Barack is not the only Obama committed to community service. Michelle Obama has recently launched the Let’s Move initiative, which combats childhood obesity and helps get children physically active in their neighborhoods.

Building better communities begins with building better and healthier people, and Michelle Obama’s program aims to do just that.

Yesterday marked a big day in the Obama 4 IMU campaign progress. Congressman John Conyers sat down with IMU President/CEO David Merritt for an afternoon meeting to learn more about IMU and the Obama 4 IMU campaign. Congressman Conyers has served Michigan and the United States in the House of Representatives since 1965, and is the second most senior member in the House of Representatives. We are so honored that such an important member of our government was able to make the time to hear about what we were doing. Not only that, but the Congressman also gave his full-fledged support of the campaign, and stated “I think the President will be very happy to know about this and to affiliate with it.” Thank you so much to the Congressman and his staff for being so accommodating. IMU and the Congressman’s staff will continue to stay connected as IMU is committed to encouraging young people’s citizenship through not only service, but also voter registration and policy awareness. Check out video footage of conversation between David and the Congressman and the Congressman’s endorsement of our campaign!

Another week begins in the Obama4IMU Campaign. I’m fired up and definitely looking forward to working hard on spreading our message this week with the rest of the team! This is definitely a crucial week as May 1st is quickly approaching. Theres no time to waste. Since my last post on Friday, nothing too major has transpired. Over the weekend, we all individually did our own petitioning and reached out to various family and friends for support. I sent out some emails to family members, telling them about the campaign and seeking petitions. A few of my family members are big republicans so they initially blew off the email and told me that they were not interested in signing the petition. This problem has arisen while petitioning and speaking with people on campus as well. Therefore I think we need to reiterate that this campaign is NOT politically oriented. This campaign is simply about linking our message of spreading happiness and giving back with Obama, who shares many of these same ideals. It’s such a simple message that everybody can relate to and understand. Our mission is achieved every time we put a smile on someone’s face. Once I explain this to people who initially resist, they almost always show interest and gladly sign the petition.

Anyhow, stay tuned to the the blog for more updates on this weeks campaigning. There will definitely some more to come in the next few days. Please continue to show your support by telling your friends and family about the campaign. The larger our network gets, the greater chance we have of reaching Obama. Have a good week and keep on the lookout for IMU, both on the news and in the streets!

Today marks the 9th day of the OBAMA4IMU campaign and things along the campaign trail are really starting to pick up. We have received a great amount of support and praise for our work. Our number of petitions have been steadily increasing as word about our campaign spreads. In the past few days our campaign has taken a great stride by gaining media exposure thanks to wonderful stories by channel 7 and channel 20. We can’t thank these news channels enough for coming out and supporting our cause. Our hope is that this is just the beginning of good things to come. Hopefully other news stations and publications will hear about our campaign and give us even more support. With your continued support and more media exposure, we are very confident that our campaign will reach the man himself, President Obama.

You might ask, why would Obama care about this campaign and IMU? There are multiple different reasons why. I’ll highlight one in particular for you. Obama pays a lot of attention to the city of Detroit, as Detroit is obviously a big part of the national economy. Here at IMU, we perform a lot of different community service to help better the city of Detroit. For example, we recently spent the day working with students at Thirkell Elementary, helping them write stories and design art related to Martin Luther King Jr. Just last week we took part in DP Day, which is a huge day of service in the Detroit community. These are just a few examples of our many acts of community service centered in the Detroit area. Obama stresses that every little bit of service helps and hopefully choose to wear one our t-shirts when he comes to UofM.

Ch. 7 WXYZ was gracious enough to come out to the University of Michigan today and film a feature on our Obama 4 IMU campaign. We can’t thank Brandon Truttling enough for a wonderful piece! IMU worked the hallways of Angell Hall pretty hard, and received nearly 100 signatures from students in support of Obama 4 IMU. Let’s keep this going! WE ARE FIRED UP!

1. Community Service

You may be wondering: why should Obama even wear an IMU shirt? Well, despite the fact that he’s the President of the United States, and what better way to spread your message than having the Commander in Chief himself to endorse it, there are even more reasons why Obama should wear an IMU Tee. Reason number one? His emphasis on community service. IMU is geared towards spreading happiness through service (done in the most edgy, creative, and innovative way possible through our apparel), and Obama has pushed the necessity of volunteering and service throughout his political career. Since launching in the fall of 2009, IMU has done approximately nine community service initiatives. In addition to this, each IMU employee completes 8-10 hours of community service, not because we have to, but because we want to. We also encourage our customers to do community service by providing discounts to those who complete an hour or more of volunteer work in their communities. By serving our community not only with our clothing but also with our physical presence, we truly show our belief in “The Power of We” that Obama extols on serve.gov, a website detailing specific service initiatives of the Obama administration and encouraging citizens to invest in their neighborhoods. Our ideal that “We Are Who We Are Because of Others” directly corresponds with Obama’s service motto: “United We Serve.” Obama is truly right in saying, “United We Serve…DIVIDED We Fall.” That being said, seems natural that Obama would be a GREAT model for our “DIVIDED” T-Shirt.

We definitely need to get Obama on the text now…

-Toccara Nelson