“What makes you come alive?”

That’s a question Luke Roberts ’12, M20, mechanical engineering, found himself asking more and more a few years ago. He’d already been making music and producing video in addition to pursuing his engineering graduate program at the University of Maryland, and after completing his master’s degree last year, he decided to forgo a Ph.D. to develop the social enterprise wing of his business.

“It’s important to serve people and get involved,” says Roberts. “Building stuff is great, but it’s not really where my passion lies…[I wasn’t] making the difference I wanted to make in the world.” This, combined with Roberts’ passion for volunteering and interest in serving and empowering others, is how My Phone Feeds Kids was born.

My Phone Feeds Kids applies a tactic typically associated with network marketing companies to a social justice context: users download a smartphone app to purchase a T-shirt that says “My Phone Feeds Kids…Does Yours?,” while $7.50 of that T-shirt’s proceeds is donated to the Maryland Food Bank. When others ask about the shirt’s enigmatic slogan, they’re encouraged to download the app, buy their own T-shirt, and spread the message to others, who can download, donate, and further spread the cause. Users are also given a unique referral code to track the donations they’ve inspired in the app.

“People want to connect with like-minded people, [and] this is a natural way to build those connections,” says Roberts. More connections ideally lead to more donations, and users are given a unique code to track how many their interactions have yielded.

Roberts worked with his father, a longtime programmer, to create the app and form a business plan. The project officially launches at a public event at Sip @ C Street Flats in Laurel on September 8, and if all goes well, Roberts plans to support other nonprofits and more causes in the future.

Started your own business? Working for a cause you care about? We want to know! Send in a class note for a future issue of UMBC Magazine today.

Gun Show
September 4 – October 14
Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture

An Opening Reception with the Artist will be held on Thursday, September 7, from 5 to 7 p.m.

The Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture presents Gun Show, an exhibition of more than 100 life-size replicas of assault rifles created by artist David Hess from “rescued” objects. The exhibition is curated by Kathy O’Dell, Associate Professor of Visual Arts and Special Assistant to the Dean for Education and Arts partnerships.

David Hess started assembling life-size sculptures of assault rifles from what he calls “rescued” objects — ranging from an old black sneaker and vintage turquoise sewing machine, to a raggedy crutch and pink Barbie bike frame — decades ago, increasing his pace of production following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in 2012. While he has shown some of the works since 2015, Gun Show at UMBC is the first presentation of all 112 sculptures. Hess aims for this project to foster dialogue about one of the most volatile issues of our time – guns, who should or should not own them, whether or not to legislate them, ramifications of their use or misuse, and how issues of race, class, gender identity, and age impact every aspect of these questions.

Artist David Hess harvests contrasting forms and materials to create a collision between the man-made and natural worlds. Hess refers to these artifacts as “rescued objects,” suggesting that these materials are loaded with history and cultural narrative – making them not only worthy of salvage, but of incorporation and preservation. At Dartmouth College, Hess studied with realist wood sculptor Fumio Yoshimura, whose precision and humor had a profound impact. Concentrated studies at Dartmouth in pre-med, engineering, Japanese design and filmmaking continue to inform his current studio practice. From these he draws upon methods of observation, object making and constructing narrative in his creation of commissioned furniture, sculpture, architectural elements and public art projects.