We recently sat down with Jon and Kitty Harvey (and their dog Donner) to find out what motivates them to be loyal and generous supporters of GRID Alternatives and how it ties in with their personal values of making a big difference and a small footprint in our world.

On Friday June 10th, GRID Alternatives completed its 1000th solar electric system installation for low-income families throughout the state of California. This milestone took place at the home of Ms. Celia Juarez as part of the Enterprise East Los Angeles Green Grant Program.

"Living in Japan, you see how everything they do is based on saving something, whether it's energy, water or other resources," said Norm Graham. "That's the life they live. Every other house in Japan had solar panels. I thought "why can't we have that here in America?"

Elmer Rankin is a seventy-year-old Navy Veteran who served on a Nuclear Submarine from 1958 to 1962. He has lived in Sun City, California for the past 14 years. Elmer is disabled and is living with congestive heart failure and prostate cancer and undergoing chemotherapy.

On November 5th volunteers, sponsors, job trainees and GRID Alternatives staff from all over the state got together to successfully install 10 solar electric systems for 10 families in 1 day. Despite rain on Friday the skies opened up on Saturday for what turned out to be a warm and sunny afternoon. This provided the perfect backdrop for what was an overall wonderful community based event.

Tom King had a decent job in produce distribution but he didn’t wake up every day feeling passionate about going to work. So he began to look for something else to do.

Oneida Branch is known to her community as "Mother Branch", where for decades she has run an informal community food bank from her home.

Three years ago, Steven lost his eyesight and soon after lost his career. GRID Alternatives worked with Steven to install a solar electric system for his home, helping him keep his expenses manageable while living on a part-time income and disability assistance.

Lawrence Jackson worked with GRID Alternatives to install solar panels on his home, not just to lower his bills but also "to help the environment - I want to be be part of the solution, not part of the problem."

Donna Levey was a foster mother until she adopted Dolan and Dylan, two special-needs children whose medical conditions “require at least three loads of laundry every day, seven days a week.”