Saturday night, May 30th at 10:40pm, Unity Impact president, Stacy Massey, put a call out on social media to help Huntington Beach downtown businesses clear their stores of products, or put up plywood over their windows. A protest was scheduled at noon the next day and sadly a few looting incidents had been occurring around Southern California, following such protests.
A few businesses responded to Stacy's Facebook post mentioning they needed help. Dozens of residents offered assistance.
At 6:30am Sunday morning, there were two individuals ready to help one downtown owner. By 9:00am businesses were literally standing in line to ask if our team could help cover their windows to help protect their livelihood. And HB didn't disappoint...
Women drove trucks to make the "wood run"! Guys arrived on bicycles with tools in backpacks! Home Depot donated sheets of plywood and gave us 20% discounts on all the others. Rocky Mountain donated cookies to all the workers ... it was just one "gift" after another!
Through the whole project, citizens put the supply costs on their credit cards. They literally bought wood, screws and drill bits for people they'd never met! Cash was handed over to us with a statement like, "Buy a few planks on me for an owner that needs help!"
Six hours later, with HB residents pitching in, we got dozens of storefronts covered. We could not have done ANY of that without the uniting spirit of our HB community. So thank you! Truly!!
Unity Impact has launched a fundraiser to help repay all the residents who purchased supplies “on the fly”. Receipts may be submitted to us this week for reimbursement to stacy@unityimpact.org! Please put #ProtectHB in your subject line of your email. Simply scan the receipt and send it to us with your contact information.
Sunday's community outreach was amazing ... but we are not surprised. We do that in HB!
We are family!
We would greatly appreciate your contribution to those who gave so freely in a time of need.
Please contact us if you should have any questions!
Donate to Help
Please give to help reimburse the many HB residents who personally covered the costs of supplies to help #ProtectHB Downtown business owners. Thank you!
CARES Act and Charitable Contributions
Thank you, as always, for supporting Unity Impact, Inc.. You may be aware that Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act on March 27, 2020. Included in this legislation were several provisions that may change your charitable donations this year. Please consider the following:
You can now deduct your gift to Unity Impact, even if you take the standard deduction. The CARES Act allows for up to $300 per taxpayer ($600 for a married couple) in an above-the-line deduction for charitable gifts made in 2020 and claimed on taxes in 2021. This means that you can lower your income tax bill by donating to UI, even if you take the standard deduction on your taxes. Please talk with your accountant to learn more.
If you itemize deductions, there are new charitable deduction limits. The CARES Act increases the existing cap on charitable cash contributions for those who itemize, raising it from 60% of adjusted gross income to 100% in 2020. Please talk with your accountant to learn more.