OHIO — Beelal Hasan is a senior student-athlete at Ohio Northern University in Ada. He said when he couldn’t be there to support his friends physically, he found another way.

What You Need To Know

  • Beelal Hasan is a senior at Ohio Northern University in Ada, he started the Worth It Project when he was a sophomore

  • He got the idea after he made sweatshirts for his friends who were going through a difficult time

  • He decided to start selling embroidered merchandise with messages of self-worth

  • Hasan donates 20% of proceeds to the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation

“I came up with the idea of making two sweatshirts for them,” said Hasan.

Sweatshirts with reminders of their worth embroidered right on the front and on the sleeves.

“I’ve always been the friend that will always try to help their friends to any extent no matter what they’re going through.”

Hasan could have ended there, but he decided to start mass producing the sweatshirts and selling them, donating 20% of the proceeds to the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.

“I realized that, hey, there are a lot of other people in the world that are going through the same thing and maybe need an extra mentality boost.”

The Worth It Project has its own website and social media page, Hasan said he’s been able to sell sweatshirts to people in 20 states.

“That’s just really rewarding to me knowing that I maybe saved someone or helped them realize there’s so much more to life than being sad and having bad thoughts, and I wanted to be able make something positive out of that and help people gain more confidence and be more self-loving through it.”

Hasan is in his final semester of school and getting ready to start his job search, but he said he has no plans to slow down.

“I'm hoping to keep it alive, to keep doing what I’m doing and try to reach a bigger audience."

For more information, or to buy a hoodie, you can visit https://theworthitproject.org.