Promise Me You’ll Stay Warm
A community campaign by My Boyfriend Apparel
At My Boyfriend Apparel, community has always come first.
We believe in showing up for people, for passion, and for moments that matter. We believe warmth is more than something you wear. It is something you give.
That belief is what inspired Promise Me You’ll Stay Warm, a winter campaign rooted in care, connection, and responsibility to the world around us. For every hoodie or crewneck sold through this campaign, fifteen percent will be donated to Milwaukee Street Angels, an organization doing meaningful and life changing work right here in our city.
As part of this campaign, we spent time listening to and learning directly from the Milwaukee Street Angels team. The story below is shaped by their words, their experiences, and the work they do every day in our community.
What This Partnership Means
Promise Me You’ll Stay Warm is more than a clothing release. It is a commitment.
Through this partnership, 15 percent of every hoodie and crewneck sold will be donated directly to Milwaukee Street Angels to support their ongoing outreach work with individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Milwaukee.
These funds help support essential needs like warm clothing, cold weather gear, outreach supplies, and the resources required to meet people where they are during the most dangerous months of the year. Every purchase plays a role in helping Milwaukee Street Angels continue their mission of providing care rooted in dignity, safety, and compassion.
This campaign exists to turn warmth into action and community support into real impact.
How You Can Help
If you would like to support this campaign, you can do so by purchasing one of the items below. Each piece was created with comfort, durability, and intention in mind, designed to keep you warm while helping someone else do the same.
Promise Me You’ll Stay Warm Hoodie
Promise Me You’ll Stay Warm Crewneck
Every purchase helps fund Milwaukee Street Angels’ winter outreach efforts, and community members who wish to support the mission beyond apparel can donate directly HERE!
Where It All Began
When asked how Milwaukee Street Angels got started, the team shared that it began with a small group of community members who believed even the simplest acts of service could make a difference.
In particular, co founders Eva Welch and Shelly Sarasin felt called to support neighbors experiencing unsheltered homelessness in their community. They began by cooking spaghetti dinners and delivering them to known encampments. Over time, those acts of service grew into advocacy, and advocacy grew into community wide action.
Now entering their tenth year of service, Milwaukee Street Angels provides outreach five days a week through mobile outreach and shower trailer programs, continuing to meet people where they are with dignity and consistency.
The Reality People Do Not Always See
In conversations with the Milwaukee Street Angels team, one truth stood out clearly. Homelessness is often misunderstood.
They shared that there is no shelter space in Milwaukee that an individual or family can simply walk into when they need refuge. Outside of emergency winter warming spaces, shelter availability is extremely limited, and access often depends on complicated systems and vulnerability assessments.
They also spoke about harmful stereotypes. Homelessness is not caused by laziness. It is a full time struggle that requires resilience and strength. Many individuals experiencing homelessness are working. Others may turn to substance use after becoming homeless as a way to cope with trauma, mental health challenges, or survival itself.
Understanding begins when judgment is replaced with compassion.
Why Winter Matters So Much
Winter in Milwaukee presents life threatening conditions for people living unsheltered.
The Street Angels team shared that subzero temperatures, dangerous wind chills, snow, and ice significantly increase the risk of hypothermia, frostbite, and death. During winter months, outreach is not just supportive. It is lifesaving.
Access to warm clothing and basic essentials directly impacts health, safety, and dignity. Items like coats, gloves, socks, boots, and blankets not only protect the body but also build trust and connection. These moments of care often become the first step toward deeper support and long term stability.
The People Behind the Work
What keeps the Milwaukee Street Angels team going, even on the hardest days, is hope.
They shared that knowing most of the people they serve will eventually find stability is incredibly motivating. Being part of that journey, even in a small way, makes the work meaningful.
They also emphasized how much community belief matters. Knowing that the community supports their mission gives them strength and reassurance that they are not doing this work alone.
A Message to the Community
The Milwaukee Street Angels team shared this message with the community.
Homelessness is not a distant issue. It is happening in our neighborhoods and affects our neighbors. When compassion replaces judgment and action replaces indifference, real change becomes possible. Together, every person can be seen, valued, and supported with dignity.
What Promise Me You’ll Stay Warm Means
During winter outreach, the phrase Promise Me You’ll Stay Warm is often spoken by Street Angels team members as they connect with people staying outdoors.
Paired with the act of providing warm clothing, this phrase becomes a promise. A promise that someone cares. A promise that the community cares. A promise that lives matter.
Together, warmth becomes hope.
From All of Us
This campaign is not about charity. It is about community.
This story was created using insights shared directly by the Milwaukee Street Angels team as part of the Promise Me You’ll Stay Warm campaign. We are honored to help amplify their voices and support their mission.
Thank you for choosing warmth.
Thank you for choosing compassion.
Thank you for choosing community.
Follow Milwaukee Street Angels on Instagram, Facebook, and visit their website to learn more:
