Unite To Light

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Unite to Light believes that access to clean and affordable light and energy are critical to improving health, education and prosperity.

As a not-for-profit 501(c)3 we manufacture and distribute efficient, durable, low cost solar lamps and solar power. We are a group of volunteers, donors, and one full time employee based in the Santa Barbara, California, area. We have designed and produce and distribute a high-quality, low-cost, solar powered light. Through distribution partners throughout the world, we put lights into the hands of individuals and families in developing countries. Program overhead is low. Office equipment and support facilities and related professional services (CPA, legal, web hosting, and the like) are donated. Distribution is through partners in the local areas which are well established and highly respected. Our typical distribution partner is another 501(c)(3) entity, an international church organization, a school or orphanage, or a local entrepreneur or philanthropist using our lights as part of an overall program to improve the quality of life in whole villages or regions. Increasingly, lights are being sold at a reasonable markup by individual women, women-owned businesses, or women-run organizations. In developing nations, when women can generate income and assets of their own, their stature increases, they become less vulnerable, and the whole family benefits. By making special efforts to distribute lights through methods which benefit women and children, not only are the benefits of the light itself brought to people, the process of distribution creates further benefits.

10/16/2026

We're celebrating 300,000 solar lights and chargers, in 80+ countries, since 2010, with the city that made it possible. ✨

Unite to Light the Night: The Power of Possibility brings light art installations, live music and hands-on light art to the San Marcos Courtyard during 1st Thursday.

📍 San Marcos Courtyard, 1129 State Street, Santa Barbara
📅 Thursday, November 5
⏰ 5–8 p.m.

The courtyard is free and open to all ages. Tickets add dinner, two drinks and the VIP area (21+), and every ticket funds solar lights for people living without electricity. Early bird tickets are available through October 30.

🎟️ Tickets and details: https://secure.givelively.org/event/unite-to-light/the-power-of-possibility

10/12/2026

Governor Newsom has proclaimed a state of emergency to get California ready for what forecasters say could be the strongest El Niño on record: a greater than 90% chance of a very strong event this fall and winter. The state expects heavy rain, flooding, landslides, strong winds and power outages.

Get ready now:
• Sign up for local emergency alerts: https://listoscalifornia.org
• Know your flood risk and have an evacuation plan
• Never drive through floodwater
• Pack light and power that charge in the sun

A Luke Light gives eight hours of light after a day in the sun. A Chandler Charger holds 8,000 mAh, enough to charge a phone 3–4 times. A Haven Lantern reaches up to 1,200 lumens. Every one you buy sends an identical one to someone living without electricity.

Get storm-ready: https://unitetolight.org/buy-one-give-one
Read the Governor's announcement: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/21/governor-newsom-proclaims-state-of-emergency-to-bolster-statewide-el-nino-preparedness-protect-california/

10/10/2026

🇺🇦 75 Chandler Chargers and hand decorated stickers are on their way to Ukraine — each one reading "Power for you, from your local Rotary club."

At the Rotary Solar Chargers for Humanity event on September 19, Interact students and Rotary members hand-decorated 96 stickers. Each goes on a Chandler Charger — an 8,000 mAh solar power bank that recharges a phone three to four times — alongside the Rotary wheel, then travels to Ukraine with Rotary Club "Kyiv Capital" to reach people who most need a way to keep their devices powered.

A charged phone where the grid is down is a call home, a working flashlight, a way to reach help. Thank you to everyone who picked up a marker — The Rotary Club of Highlands Ranch and every Interact volunteer who made these.

Help send light and power where the grid can't reach: https://unitetolight.org/donate/

Slava Ukraini! 💛💙

10/09/2026

Cassie Roach runs the New Beginnings Counseling Center Safe Parking Program, which gives people living in their vehicles a legal, monitored place to sleep across 27 lots in Santa Barbara County. Last year they served over 900 people and moved more than 200 into housing.

We've partnered with them for a decade, sending Luke Lights and Chandler Chargers. A charged phone means a senior can call 911 at 2am. It means a job application gets submitted. It means a kid finishes her homework. ☀️

Watch Cassie's full talk on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoferxN93y8&t=5s

10/08/2026

Unite to Light has a simple mission: to bring light and power to people living without electricity. A few weeks ago we gathered with a group of people who care deeply about the connections between energy, health, opportunity and hope.

One of the most powerful reminders of why this work matters came from Shudufhadzo Musida, UNFPA's Global Champion for Women and Girls: light is a basic necessity. When a woman has reliable light, she is safer, healthier and better able to care for herself and her family. That light reaches far beyond one person: children who can study after dark, mothers giving birth, health workers providing care, and communities getting through disasters.

Right now, we have a goal of raising $150,000 to bring solar lights and chargers to people who need them most, including UNFPA midwives working in Sudan. Every $10 provides a solar light to someone living without electricity.

Join us on October 20 for a virtual conversation with UNFPA to learn more about their work in Sudan.

📅 October 20, 2026 | 10:00 AM Eastern / 7:00 AM Pacific
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/qaA04zXfQM6R7pVkBXtXTw

To give, visit https://unitetolight.org/donate/ and select Global Health.

10/07/2026

Thank you to everyone who gathered with us in New York.

Thank you to Eva Haller, for bringing together people who care deeply about the connections between energy, health, opportunity and hope.

Thank you to UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, and to Shudufhadzo Musida, UNFPA's Global Champion for Women and Girls, who reminded the room that light is a basic necessity.

And thank you to Haven Lantern, whose solar lanterns reach people living without electricity through our Buy One, Give One program.

You can help send solar lights and lanterns to Sudan. Give at https://unitetolight.org/donate/ and select Global Health. Every $10 provides a solar light to someone living without electricity.

10/06/2026

In early March 2026, violence in Abiemnhom County, South Sudan, destroyed homes and separated families. Many fled to displacement camps in Ajak Kuac Payam, where nights come without electricity.

With Transformation of the World in Christ (TWIC), MAMA Project and Direct Relief, we brought Luke Lights to displaced families, including 17 mothers at Mother Teresa Hospital in Twic County.

A light after dark means a safe walk to the latrine, fewer candles and open flames inside a shelter, and a floor you can check for snakes and scorpions. Thank you to the N.E. Philadelphia Cheltenham and Rockledge Rotary Club and the students of She's the First in Monroe Township, NJ, for helping fund this project.

Read the full story on our blog: https://unitetolight.org/solar-lights-displaced-families-south-sudan/

10/05/2026

After the storm knocked out power to about 90% of Kaua'i, 100 of our Luke Lights and 25 Chandler solar chargers are on their way to mothers, babies, and families on the island's north shore, west side, and Ni'ihau.

Two partners are making it happen: Direct Relief, our Santa Barbara neighbors dedicated to improving the health and lives of people affected by emergencies, are handling the journey — and Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii, the statewide nonprofit supporting families from pregnancy through parenthood, will get the lights into homes that need them.

Solar light doesn't need the grid — when the power goes out, the sun still rises.

Change a life. Light the world. 🌅

10/02/2026

Henry Red Cloud joined our Illuminating Impact Symposium from Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where he's been training Indigenous solar technicians since 2003. Over 1,200 graduates so far, working with 70 of the country's 575 federally recognized tribes.

Students spend 80 hours learning solar and energy efficiency, then leave rooftop ready — with jobs waiting. The homes they retrofit cut energy use by 65 to 75%. ☀️

Watch Henry's full talk on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4zOyddjtm8

09/25/2026

Our final Illuminating Impact Symposium panel brought together David Hochschild (California Energy Commission), Bernadette Del Chiaro (Environmental Working Group), Christina Snider-Ashtari (Office of Governor Newsom), and Alelia Parenteau (City of Santa Barbara), with Sigrid Wright of the Community Environmental Council (CEC) moderating.

Their throughline: policy works when it puts the technology directly in people's hands. Rooftop solar. Tribal energy sovereignty. Microgrids at the neighborhood level.

Watch the full panel on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba7J6cNo6Wc&t=6s

Address

1117 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA
93101

Telephone

(805) 617-0590

Website

http://www.unitetolight.org/

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