The Love Army for Somalia: How getting a plane was just the beginning of a global movement

It was an idea too crazy to work.

Jérôme Jarre and his friends Casey Neistat, Juanpa Zurita, Chakabars Clarke, and Ben Stiller wanted to do something about the humanitarian crisis in Somalia, and they knew the old-school methods of helping out weren’t going to cut it. So they decided to try something new.

One wild idea and a few tweets later, they got a plane. In fact, they didn’t just get a plane — they got a promise from Turkish Airlines to let them ship food on their aircraft to Somalia until the end of the famine. And that’s how one of the most powerful campaigns we’ve ever seen on GoFundMe got started.

“The Love Army for Somalia” quickly spread and was shared across social media everywhere. Donors came together from more than 125 countries, with nearly 100,000 people raising more than $2.5 million. People all across the world, from all walks of life, helped make a real difference with just $5, $10, or $20 at a time to help alleviate the horrible famine conditions in Somalia.

The Love Army mobilized regular people across the globe, and soon 60 tons of food for malnourished babies were on their way to Somalia. Another 600 tons of food and 2.8 million liters of water have been distributed. And Chakabars and Jérôme have been documenting the incredible people they’ve been meeting on this journey.