Faith Baptist Church is located in Oakland, California and plays a critical role in the East Oakland community. One of the ways Faith Baptist serves the community is through their Food Giving Program, where volunteers give food to those in need. Every other week, people from East Oakland and beyond line up at Faith Baptist Church to receive free food to feed their families. Faith Baptist church feeds over 300 families every month and gives out more than 260,000 pounds of food per year through its Food Giving Program.

Solar Savings Invested into Faith Baptist’s Food Giving Program 

Curtis Robinson, the Pastor at Faith Baptist Church says, “The history of Faith Baptist Church is that it was organized in 1984. Other than the worshiping opportunities that we offer to the community, on Sundays and during the week, our Food Giving Program is our primary connector. We distribute about 130 tons of food annually to people in this community. A lower electricity bill will allow us to create a freer cash flow that we can add to our bottom line and budget.”

Faith Baptist Church went solar with RE-volv through a 6 kW solar system that will save the church more than $50,000 over the life of their solar system.The 6 kW solar array on the roof of Faith Baptist will cover 100% of Faith Baptist’s energy needs and will save Faith Baptist approximately 30% on their electricity bills each month. With their solar savings, Faith Baptist will be able to provide more food to those in need through their weekly Food Giving Program.

Solar Ambassadors Bring Solar to Faith Baptist 

This project was led by RE-volv Solar Ambassadors, who volunteered to help bring solar to Faith Baptist Church. The Solar Ambassadors ran a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the up-front cost of bringing solar to Faith Baptist and helped educate the community about the importance of clean, renewable energy. 

Sonja Marwood, the RE-volv Solar Ambassador volunteer who led this project says, “I love volunteering for RE-volv because I have a deep passion for renewable energy. I love that my efforts are going to this specific project. Faith Baptist Church benefits because they get lower electricity bills, the community benefits because the church has more resources, and we all benefit from having a cleaner environment.”

Community Involvement to Bring Solar to Faith Baptist 

Faith Baptist was able to go solar for $0 down, thanks to the generous support from donors across the country who donated to the crowdfunding campaign which paid for the upfront cost of bringing solar to Faith Baptist. A tremendous thanks to the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation for matching all donations to this campaign dollar for dollar, which allowed us to hit our campaign goal in one day! Thank you to our partners at Interfaith Power and Light and Green the Church for their partnership and support for this project!