Iowa Love T-shirts and The Rustic Corner support fairgrounds tornado recovery

To The Press

The Rustic Corner in Charles City is teaming up with Iowa Love, a new business formed by a Waterloo man, to donate to Floyd County Fairgrounds tornado cleanup and recovery efforts.

Tami Vetter, owner of The Rustic Corner, said a portion of the sales of each Iowa love T-shirt sold at the store will be donated to the recovery effort.

William Heathershaw, who founded Iowa Love LLC, calls the business a “social enterprise” with the mission of “uniting the millions of folks who have an affinity for Iowa while supporting Iowa businesses, craftspeople and nonprofits.”

He said he happened to be driving on the Avenue of the Saints near Charles City on Monday when he heard on the car radio that the fairgrounds had been hit by a tornado.

“I knew that this destruction would run deeper than the physical damage as thousands of folks across the county — and the state — have an emotional connection to the fairgrounds,” Heathershaw said.

Iowa love T-shirts were already being sold at The Rustic Corner, and Heathershaw contacted Vetter about donating some of the proceeds of those sales.

Vetter said, “Within minutes of William texting me to see if there is something we could do together to support recovery efforts, we were determined that we wanted to donate a big chunk of our Iowa love T-shirt sales — $10 of each sold — for the next 10 days.”

Heathershaw said, “When I first envisioned the ‘Iowa love’ symbol, I knew it had to be used for more than just as a unique design that would look cool on T-shirts. So, from day one, a primary function of our business is to support Iowa nonprofits.”

Since beginning the company two months ago, Iowa love has donated to flood relief and recovery efforts in Sioux City and Council Bluffs, and formed retail partnerships with the Sullivan Brothers Veterans Museum in Waterloo, the Iowa Welcome Center in Northwood and the Grinnell College bookstore in Grinnell.