YI Shop | Youth Interactive Holiday Market

Photo courtesy YI Shop.

Photo courtesy YI Shop.

Buy local and help support the nonprofit Youth Interactive this weekend at their Makers Market on Saturday, December 22. This unique nonprofit creates youth led businesses to mentor students’ creativity, help ignite their imaginations and provide them with new opportunities to develop the life skills needed to succeed beyond school. 

YI Shop (located at 1219 State St. across from the Granada Theatre) is filled to the brim with local artists and craftsman working alongside students to celebrate the holiday season and create beautiful items for lucky holiday shoppers.

For the perfect gift, unique, LOCAL, handmade and crafted with love, stop in the YI Shop for everything you will need to make the holiday season shine bright for everyone on your list.

Photo courtesy YI Shop.

Photo courtesy YI Shop.

YI Shop is  partnering with some of the Central Coast’s most creative artisans to support our youth.  Among the gift items, you’ll find:

Turquoise Succulents by Ashley Rifkin 

Barry Tryon Ceramics

Photo courtesy YI Shop.

Photo courtesy YI Shop.

Kathy Burba Ceramics

Jess Conti Leather Goods

Dancing Flame Glass by Lindsey Cossman

Pedaling Paper by Barbara Booth

Karen Hazarian Fine Jewelry

Table Salt Screen Prints by Earl Arnold

Avi Hyman’s Green Eyed Art

Wolf Hietzke – Ceramics

Felicia Artisan Jewelry

Unite to Light

Elephant Project

Founded in 2012, Youth Interactive Santa Barbara (YI) is a grassroots after school Entrepreneurial Arts Academy that bridges opportunity & social divisions by providing creative young adults from all walks of life with the keys to self-sufficiency.

Past participants say, the YI approach has changed the pathway of their lives from a place of darkness & failure to success! Click here for more information. 

Youth Interactive Holiday Market is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 22 at 1219 State St. in Downtown Santa Barbara. www.youthinteractive.us

Leslie Dinaberg

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons on December 20, 2018.

LUX LED Lighting Partners With Unite to Light for Holiday Season

Courtesy photo.

Courtesy photo.

In the spirit of the holiday season, two Santa Barbara-based companies have partnered for a holiday giving campaign. LUX LED Lighting is teaming up with Unite To Light—a nonprofit organization that provides portable, solar-powered lamps to people living without electricity—to do some good this holiday season.  

With every purchase of a LUX LED Lighting lamp, the company will donate a solar lamp for Unite To Light. Whether from disaster, lack of infrastructure, or inability to pay, Unite to Light aims to bring light to those who would otherwise live in darkness. 

Courtesy photo.

Courtesy photo.

“1.2 billion people are currently without electricity, including many in our own backyard who have been affected by the recent hurricanes and wildfires,” says Roger Edgar, CEO of LUX LED Lighting. “Our team was motivated by Unite to Light’s dedication to providing an effective solution to those living in darkness, and we are proud to contribute to that mission.”

The giving campaign will kick off on November 24,  in conjunction with a 30% site-wide Black Friday discount that will be available on LUX LED Lighting’s website. The campaign will extend through December 26, providing ample opportunity for consumers to join the charitable mission. Products can be purchased by going to www.store.luxledlights.com.

Leslie Dinaberg

Originally published in Santa Barbara Seasons on November 21, 2017.