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Lights Out? Prepare for Planned and Unplanned Blackouts

6/3/2025

Photo by Mike Newbry on Unsplash

In early 2025, more than 4 million people were left without electricity as L.A. wildfires ravaged homes and destroyed businesses. This left many without adequate lighting, proper cooling systems, and threatened access to communication and water. As environmental catastrophes become more common, and unplanned blackouts increase with them, the importance of being prepared has never been greater. Here, we will outline tips for both planned and unplanned blackouts, giving you and your loved ones guidance on how to stay safe.

Powering Education in Sierra Leone: Unite to Light and World Food Programme’s Partnership for Change

4/29/2025

I want to become a presidential guard when I grow up. This light will help me study and achieve my dream. "
— John Belmoh, Class Three Student, DEC Primary School Baimbay

John Belmoh using the Luke Light for school work

In a country where nightfall often marks the end of learning for children, a small solar light can transform not just homework routines, but entire futures. Unite to Light’s partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) in Sierra Leone brought light—literally and figuratively—to over 2,200 students, teachers, and farmers in three remote chiefdoms.

Lighting Lives Across the Globe: Partnerships to Power Health, Education, and Safety

4/25/2025

This spring, Unite to Light is thrilled to support six organizations through our Gift of Light Partner Program, each working to improve lives through education, health, and housing. Together, we’re delivering solar-powered solutions to refugee camps in Uganda, artisan communities in Kenya, and underserved populations in cities like Las Vegas.
Here’s a look at the six organizations we’re partnering with to bring light to communities in need.

Africa Schools of Kenya

The Struggle for Power: Voices from San Francisco’s Unhoused Community

4/10/2025

Access to power is often overlooked, yet for individuals experiencing homelessness, it’s a daily struggle that can mean the difference between connection and isolation. We've partnered with Harm Reduction Therapy again, to provide solar-powered solutions to those in need across San Francisco.

At both their drop-in center and mobile sites, Harm Reduction Therapy recently distributed our Chandler Chargers to help their clients overcome one of the most persistent barriers–staying connected.

Our partner’s shared testimonies and anecdotes shine a light on the difficulties of finding a stable charge for unhoused individuals, in addition to finding other basic needs.

More Than a Charge: Power, Connection, and Hope for the Unhoused

3/11/2025

Power Creates Connection & Resource Stability

Access to power is a fundamental human right, yet many individuals experiencing homelessness live daily with limited or no access to electricity. Our partnership with Universal Human Rights Initiative (UHRI) and Hand to Hand Hunger Project highlights how essential this resource is, not just for stability, but for survival.

UHRI and Hand to Hand Hunger Project facilitated projects in Santa Monica through our Gift of Light Partner Program (GOLPP) to provide solar-powered solutions to unhoused individuals so that they may overcome barriers faced in their every day lives. Their efforts also expanded to aid those impacted by the Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles, providing safety and connection in moments of crisis.

The Salvation Army of Santa Monica demonstrates the Chandler Charger’s functions to those seeking support.

Beyond Darkness: How Solar Lights are Changing Lives in Honduras

1/28/2025

For millions of people, the day doesn’t end when the sun goes down—it simply becomes harder.

Without light, simple tasks turn into challenges: cooking, caring for children, fetching water, studying, working, even stepping outside safely. For those living without electricity, the setting sun dictates their schedule, often forcing them to sacrifice productivity, safety, and connection.

At Unite to Light, we’ve spent over a decade designing and improving solar-powered Luke Lights to meet the needs of those living in energy poverty. But in 2021, we set out to answer a deeper question: How do these lights actually change lives?

Los Angeles Wildfire Relief Efforts

1/16/2025

During the second week of January in 2025, fires sprang up across Los Angeles County, with the two larges: the Eaton Fire and the Palisades Fire burning over 40,000 acres and impacting hundreds of thousands of lives. As power was shut off to prevent more fires, and infrastructure was destroyed by the flames, our Luke Lights and Chandler Chargers became lifelines. In the midst of uncertainty and loss, these solar-powered devices have offered a sense of security and empowerment. With Luke Lights, families can illuminate their nights, providing comfort to children and creating safe environments for everyone. Chandler Chargers ensure that people can charge their phones to stay connected to vital updates, emergency services, and their loved ones. In a time when communication and information are critical, having a charged phone can mean the difference between isolation and connection. These small yet powerful devices remind communities that, even in the darkest of times, they are not alone.

Jose Velasquez and his family transformed their home into a center for donations. Photo by Gaia Menni.

Partnership to Pilot Clean, Reliable Energy Solutions for Climate Resilience

1/14/2025

Unite to Light, Dragon Q Energy, and the James S. Bower Foundation have announced a groundbreaking partnership to pilot a new solar-powered energy solution aimed at enhancing community resilience and combating climate change. The collaboration will introduce Dragon Q Energy’s PowerPole—a compact, solar-integrated, off-grid power system—in ten community projects across Santa Barbara. This initiative aims to reduce reliance on diesel generators, decrease greenhouse gas emissions, and provide critical backup power during disasters.

2024 Year in Review

1/14/2025

Unite to Light believes that access to clean, affordable light and energy is critical to improving health, education and prosperity. We manufacture and distribute solar light and power to people living without electricity across the globe and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our projects help children study at night, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, equip midwives with life-saving tools, and offer relief to those suffering from disasters, displacement and experiencing homelessness.

Shining a Light on Education and Empowerment in Rural Uganda

11/21/2024

Access to light and menstrual health products is often overlooked and taken for granted, yet these seemingly basic needs can be life-changing. For the girls and young women in Uganda’s rural Mityana District, they’re transformative. Growing Up Uganda, a community organization dedicated to improving the lives of girls and young women, recently teamed up with Unite to Light to make a profound impact on these communities.

Unite to Light is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 corporation (EIN: 27-2942180).
All donations are tax deductible.
With a billion people living in darkness, we have a lot of work to do!
Address: Unite to Light, 1117 State Street #19
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
Phone: (805) 617-0590
Email: [email protected]

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