Sunco Cares Charitable Contribution Q1 2020

Each quarter, Sunco Lighting donates to charitable organizations to give back to the community and the environment. This is part of our mission and is something our employees also value. Customers like you participate in our Sunco Cares program through your Sunco Lighting purchases.

Our recent donations for the first quarter of 2020 benefited these worthy conservation organizations worldwide:

Trees for the Future: Planting Trees Changes Lives

Mission: To improve the livelihoods of impoverished farmers by revitalizing degraded lands.

Forest gardens are more beneficial than conventional agriculture. Supporting these communities – across six countries in Sub-Saharan Africa – provides a big impact to families so they can grow and manage Forest Gardens.

Trees for the Future identifies a group of farmers – around 300 families at a time – who have both a need and a high likelihood of success. Trees for the Future then empowers these communities to succeed through the use of trees to protect, diversify, and eventually optimize their cropland. The farmers provide the land, labor, and water, along with entrepreneurial determination, all while inspiring a sense of community ownership.

Donations create a direct impact on the land and lives of farming people who need assistance to succeed. By helping Trees for the Future plant trees, you can give families the ability to transition from unsustainable farming techniques to a Forest Garden system. Your donation not only sustains and empowers them but also changes their lives forever.

 Donate Today to Trees for the Future

Let There Be Light International: Keep the Light Shining

Mission: To combat energy poverty in vulnerable off-grid communities and to fight global climate change through the donation of safe solar lights to vulnerable, vetted individuals and communities in sub-Saharan Africa.

Although electricity is accessible to many of us and used frequently throughout our days, 1 billion people do not have access to electricity. Safe lighting is not available in Africa to around 600 million people in their home, schools, health care centers, or along well-traveled roads. This means that businesses must shut down when the sun sets. People then go to a dark home with their families. At home, they utilize dangerous or polluting light options after dark, such as kerosene. This energy poverty is what Let There Be Light International strives to eradicate in creative ways.

Access to solar energy helps create productive and safer lives for communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Some of the work of Let There Be Light International benefits health clinics that were off the grid and now utilize clean solar-electrified energy. These clinics now remain open at night for emergencies, as well as pre- and post-natal care. They also provide thousands of portable, solar lights to families who can then work on side businesses at home, safely read, and their children can safely study at night.

In addition, the use of solar power instead of burning kerosene and other fuels has averted thousands of tons of CO2 from entering our atmosphere, thereby helping Earth’s climate. It also places funds into the pocket of families instead of using it on fuel. Typically, the families Let There Be Light International has helped in Uganda, Malawi, and Kenya use the money saved on basic needs, health, and education.

This boost to combat both poverty itself and energy poverty means this charity is paving a path towards a more sustainable future for people in need. Don’t you want to be a part of that?

 Donate Today to Let There Be Light International

Jewish National Fund: Turning the Desert into a Vibrant, Green Oasis

The Jewish National Fund (JNF) has been building and connecting to the land since 1901. Their visionary campaign to plant trees, source water solutions and funding of agricultural research helps to boost their goal of a vibrant oasis in place of a desert.

Trees and greenery near a city can provide much needed benefits to the community and the environment. JNF foresters work on environmental soundness while they also clean, prune, plant and allow for a natural and healthy forest. There are also fire and rescue services sponsored by the JNF in Israel. In addition, JNF addresses soil conservation, the development of agricultural infrastructure, and combating desertification.

Sunco Lighting donated towards their tree planting efforts. The Jewish National Fund forests are home to thousands of animals and birds, along with cypress trees, Atlantic cedar, almond, and the mighty oak. The JNF has created over 250,000 acres of greenery to beautify the land and provide the green lungs of cities and towns across Israel.

 Donate Today to the JNF

Watts of Love: Light = Life

Mission: To bring people the power to raise themselves out of the darkness of poverty through solar lighting. Their mission is to light the world.

Solar lighting is a strong tool that can be used to break the cycle of poverty through generations. Breaking that cycle of generational poverty means a unique approach to each family or individual. They have already helped to change the lives of over 280,000 people.

Watts of Love does not just deliver light to countries like Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, and the Philippines. Their work begins with the delivery of free solar technology to reduce dependence upon kerosene, a dangerous and unhealthy form of light for millions of families worldwide. That act alone can increase household income by up to 30%, per Watts of Love. A vision of financial self-reliance benefits light recipients as they are presented with opportunities to improve their future. Recipients determine where the income boost will go.

Adding the ability to do tasks in the evening hours provides light recipients with additional time each day, while it improves health through the elimination of dependence upon smoky kerosene. The individuality of each community and each person changes where that income will land and how that extra time – under the light of solar powered lamps – will benefit the recipients. Often, a reinvestment of that income is made in the family to improve their lives. For some it means starting a business, purchasing an animal, or education for their children.

You can give the gift of time.

Donate Today to Watts of Love

City Plants: Grow a Greener Los Angeles

Mission: To grow a greener future for Los Angeles by engaging Angelenos to plant and care for trees throughout the city.

City Plants partners with multiple non-profit organizations to plant shade trees throughout L.A. to promote green jobs and advocate for a sustainable Los Angeles. City Plants delivers up to seven water-efficient Yard Trees straight to your door for private property or they will plant the trees for you in the public parkway (between the sidewalk and the street) for homes, businesses, apartments, or schools who qualify for their program.

Planting trees benefits your energy efficiency. If planted to the west and east of a building, trees will provide shade during the hottest parts of the day. That cools the building and lessens the need for air conditioning. Less A/C use will save you energy and money on your electricity bill. Trees are also a great investment as they become more effective at saving energy with age. Using less energy as individuals can help reduce the need to generate more energy, which helps combat climate change. If enough people reduce their energy intake, the savings add up.

Prefer to volunteer your time? Find City Plants in your neighborhood at a tree adoption or a community planting event.

Donate Today to City Plants

Want to help Sunco promote a more sustainable future? Choose to donate directly to support green initiatives at home and abroad like the ones above or volunteer your time on the local level to improve your world.

Closer to home, you can also use solar lighting to reduce your landscape lighting costs and employ the power of the sun in your own yard or garden.