Turns out Jaden Smith isn’t the pompous arse I thought he was, which just proves my talent for being spectacularly wrong on first impressions.
Jaden Smith celebrated his 21st birthday in July 2019 in a way few celebs would. Instead of throwing a party, the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith parked a food truck on Los Angeles’ Skid Row and spent the day handing out hundreds of free meals to the neighbourhood’s unhoused residents.
The initiative, called the ‘I Love You’ restaurant and established through the Will & Jada Smith Family Foundation, was built on a deliberately simple model. Anyone who approaches the truck eats for free.
There are no forms to fill out, no questions asked, and no conditions attached. Volunteers serve fresh, plant-based bowls built from grains and vegetables, usually alongside water provided through JUST Water, the sustainable beverage company Smith co-founded as a teenager.
Skid Row was picked specifically because its thousands of unhoused residents have some of the poorest access to fresh, healthy food anywhere in the city.
Seven years on, the truck is still running. The project has since grown with pop-ups in Harlem and across Southern California, distributing clothing and essentials alongside meals, and Smith has announced plans for a permanent restaurant built on a pay-it-forward model, where paying customers cover the cost of meals for those who cannot.
“Honestly, my dream in life is to have a building on Skid Row where I can give out free meals every single day, breakfast, lunch, dinner,” Smith said earlier this year. “I can create jobs and, like, a good vibe. That’s my real dream.“
What an amazing young man… which is terribly inconvenient for me, because it means my snap judgement was absolute rubbish.
Such a huge gift — especially when so many young adults in his position wouldn’t care about anything other than themselves, yet here he is being genuinely decent. Honestly, it’s almost rude of him to ruin my perfectly crafted assumptions.
I always hear people laughing at Jaden Smith and his family, calling them weird or strange, but honestly we’re all “weird” to someone. What we do, eat, watch, and say at home can be completely different from what others do — it’s not weird, it’s just different. And kudos to him for actually thinking of others when most people his age wouldn’t care less. At such a young age, he genuinely gets it.
But let’s get this straight. Jaden Smith founded it. He shows up for launches, activations, and publicity, and he sets the mission, but the actual operation is handled by a professional team.
Jaden doesn’t actually roll up his sleeves like Bon Jovi and get his hands dirty; he shows up for the launch, smiles for the photos, and lets the team do the graft. Bon Jovi, meanwhile, was out there properly mucking in. Completely different league.
People can criticise the Smiths all they want and say they’re wealthy or whatever… but at the end of the day, they’re helping people every single day — which is far more than we can say about most of the other 1%ers who barely lift a finger.
This is a great idea — a mobile food truck feeding the homeless is brilliant. I’ve got to admit, I didn’t think much of this kid or his entire family until now, but credit where it’s due: a food truck dedicated to helping people is genuinely impressive.
What about food trucks for the mentally ill, the elderly, and the disabled? They deserve the same support. A mobile food service for people who can’t easily get out, can’t queue for long, or can’t navigate traditional services would make a massive difference. Not everyone can reach help — sometimes help needs to reach them.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 