“I remember being at the festival, and I saw all these people wearing shirts that said, ‘To Write Love On Her Arms’ and I was like, ‘Is that some kind of a band?’”

She walked into a merchandise tent and picked up a flier explaining what the organization was all about.

“Automatically I thought it was really cool ’cause I know a lot of people who struggle with depression and suicide and cutting,” Priebe recalled. “It’s something that’s really near and dear to my heart. To see an organization that’s so passionate about it was really exciting to me.”

Jamie Tworkowski wrote To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA) in February of 2006. This story has grown into an organization that tells people that are suffering from depression, self-abuse and thoughts of suicide that they are loved, they are not alone, and this is not the end of their story.

Since that music festival in 2006, Priebe has become “one of those crazy advocates” for TWLOHA. She is a member of the organization’s Street Team and hopes to intern for it within the next year or two.

Because the organization is nonprofit and has only 12 paid staff positions, it relies on interns to help with the Street Team, MySpace and Information accounts; this includes answering the thousands of messages it receives every year. The TWLOHA Street Team is a group anyone passionate about the cause can join. Members communicate with one another and try to learn new ways to promote the organization.

Tworkowski’s vision began to take shape when he met 19-year-old Renee. He and a few friends met and prayed for this broken girl. They asked her to leave behind drugs, alcohol and the pain whose fingertips trailed 50 scars down her arms.

This small prayer group then helped her through the hardest five days of her life.

The local rehab center would not accept her until her system was drug free. So the group decided to be the coolest detoxification program ever seen. Renee went to concerts, basketball games, read books and made Starbucks runs in the company of these people she met only days before.

To raise money for Renee’s treatment, the group designed and sold T-shirts using the phrase “To Write Love On Her Arms.” A few designs quickly grew into dozens, along with hoodies and other merchandise and nationwide support.

“I think a lot of that came from the multiple bands that were supporting TWLOHA that were popular,” said Friends sophomore Amber Teske. Steven Christian, the lead singer of Anberlin, along with the rest of the band wore the shirts in support. Their bass player even has a shirt style inspired by and named after him—the Deon.

Although supporters put on benefit events to raise awareness and money for TWLOHA and donations pour in, the T-shirts are the largest part of the organization’s income. They are available on the TWLOHA website as well as in the popular stores such as Hot Topic, Zumies and Ron Jon.

One might wonder if this is just another fad to come and go.

“Right now it’s definitely turning into a fad which kind of makes me sad,” Priebe said. “A lot of people are buying the shirt just because everybody else is doing it and because they think the design is cool. That just defeats the purpose of the organization in a sense.”

Friends sophomore Angel Dill said that in high school, “I had seen the abbreviation everywhere but I didn’t know what it was.”

Priebe thinks that even if that is the common case for others like Dill, at least the shirts are out there for people to see, and maybe people who need to hear the story will.

“I think it’s important to spread that message of hope. It doesn’t have to be labeled TWLOHA but in what we say and what we do,” said Teske.

Priebe, Teske and Dill all believe in the importance of the message. They also agree that although it is great for groups to get involved, it is up to individuals too, as Teske said, “walk the talk.”

Renee, healthy and sober for nearly four years, lives in Florida and is attending cosmetology school. She still has bad days when she needs to constantly be in contact with friends, but she is happy. She has published four years’ worth of her journal entries in a book titled “Purpose for the Pain,” which she hopes will be a source of encouragement for people struggling as she did.