Image Up Advertising & Design

18 OUR YUCAIPA | OCTOBER 2015 By Natalie Palmer Smart Solar Power has been giving the people of Yucaipa lower power bills for years. But they've also been giving people a better life, through their charitable donations. Last month, Smart Solar Power gifted $25,000 in solar panels to Cpl. Justin Crabbe's home here in Yucaipa through the Homes for Our Troops program. Crabbe, a marine, lost both his legs and injured one of his hands in an explosion in Afghanistan, where he was on his second deployment. Homes for Our Troops provided him a specially adapted home and local residents have donated hours helping make his house a home, now complete with solar panels. Four installers donated their time, the company donated the panels, and Crabbe ended up with no electrical bill. "It's our way of saying thank you to someone in our community who has sacrificed so much for all of us," said Mike McCue, Director of Sales and Marketing for Smart Solar Power. In addition to the special Homes For Our Troops gift, Smart Solar Power has regular programs that it runs annually to give back to the community. The company partners with Toys 4 Tots each year to help provide 3,000 teddy bears for the needy. Smart Solar Power gives the Ontario Reign hockey team the bears, who then sell them at a December game. After the very first goal of the game, fans throw the bears onto the ice, where they are gathered up immediately and taken straight to Toys 4 Tots, where they are gifted with the bears and also a hefty check. "We do it because we can," said McCue, who is also a Yucaipa Rotarian. "Everybody in our company has gotten a helping hand somewhere in their lives, and we want to pay it back." The company also founded "Operation Gloves" where they collect and send baseball gloves and balls to military personnel around the globe. Operation Gloves is the official nonprofit of the 66ers baseball team, who donates balls and gloves to help Smart Solar Power send 700 boxes of equipment annually to the military worldwide. "It's important because playing catch is something you have to do with someone else," said McCue. "More than 22 vets per day commit suicide, and we want them interacting with their fellow men as much as possible." Plus, they love it, said McCue. "The response has been so overwhelmingly positive." But the company's regular charities don't stop them from pitching in locally when it's needed. Just like they did for Cpl. Crabbe, Smart Solar Power has immediately stepped in to help the family of Caesar Flores, who was killed in a hit and run accident in Yucaipa in August. The company advertised on social media that they would give $500 of any solar system purchased in August to the Flores family. McCue said three families purchased systems, and the company will donate $1,500 to the family. "The bottom line is, if you have a business, you have to have the community. If you have the opportunity to help the community, you have to do it," McCue said. To reach Mike McCue at Smart Solar Power you can email mike@smartsolarpower.org, or call 909-797-7000. SMART SOLAR POWER: Shining with generosity

• Cover