Fiesta 2020 is not happening and it’s something that I fully support. The past months have proven that the virus is anything but contained in our city and it would be foolish at best to proceed with the party.
Back in March, I was optimistic that we would be able to contain the disease, telling MySA that we would make limonada out of these lemons. Social distancing seemed to flatten the curve and then it is as if everyone thought the disease was cured. Masks and science became a political flashpoint and the virus silently spread. Today, we are clocking in hundreds of cases a day in Bexar County and this very real disease is filling out hospitals. I hear firsthand talking to my wife who is a nurse and friends in the medical community.
With Fiesta 2020 being officially cancelled, there are a number of nonprofits and local businesses that focus on the event that are hurting. For this reason, I would encourage you to support them if you can. Love NIOSA? Consider donating to the San Antonio Conservation Society and the great work they do. Are you an alum of one of the many colleges that put on events during Fiesta? Give to their scholarship fund to help support students who could use that assistance to go to school. Are you a cat or dog person? Don’t forget about the SA Humane Society and all the work they do with our pet friends. Whatever event you love the most, be sure to look up what organization puts it on and make a small donation—every bit will help.
Also, there are a number of businesses that are built around Fiesta—from brick and mortars that specializing in bringing you Fiesta items, entrepreneurs that sew sashes are create wreaths, or even medal makers like yours truly. If you can, support these folks if you can.
Speaking of medals, many nonprofit organizations use Fiesta medals as a major fundraiser. These little trinkets may be a delight to Medal Maniacs, but they are real money to help support their mission. With Fiesta being cancelled, many will be stuck with their medals—if there’s an organization that you support, I strongly encourage you to get their medal (we have a number of nonprofit Fiesta medals for sale in our online store).
As far as SA Flavor goes, my business was majorly impacted by these events as well. The impacts of shelter at home meant that our brick-and-mortar retailers were closed. With Fiesta cancelled, so too are the many popup opportunities along with the major Pin Pandemonium event. This was a major blow to my small business, but one that I hope to be able to rise back up from. So, in addition to asking y’all to support all the nonprofits and businesses built around Fiesta, I’m also encouraging you to support SA Flavor.
We are currently leaving our medals and the medals of nonprofits who are selling on our site at full cost from now until 8:00 p.m. tomorrow night, July 11th. At that time, I will be discounting a majority of medals as much as 50% for a week. I wanted to be upfront that a sale is happening for those who want to wait, but also give any of y’all who would be interested in supporting my business by purchasing medals at full price the opportunity to do so.
Regardless if you take advantage of the sale or not, I am extremely grateful for your support. By you helping me do well, I am able to do good in our community. Already this year, from SA Flavor medal and shirt sales, I have cut checks for over $23,000 to local nonprofits. Furthermore, we have been able to also payout local nonprofits over $10,000 from selling their medals on our site. So, you might have some questions about what happens with our donations from SA Flavor Fiesta medals that are sold at a discounted price, this should help provide additional insights:
- At a minimum, $1 is donated for every medal sold, regardless of the sale price. So know when you purchase an SA Flavor medal, we are always donating a dollar.
- We do have some medals that have more than a dollar going to charity (e.g. “Tacos are Better Here” has $5 go to the Food Bank and the Taco Trail has a total of $3.50 going to two different nonprofits)—for those medals, the donation will be reduced equal to the sales price, not to be lower than $1. So if a medal is on sale for 50%, the donation will be reduced by half.
- The donation for all Furbulosa Fiesta medals have been made to the SA Humane Society in full in support of Bella for Rey Fideo—so a donation of $2,650 was already completed. So know that regardless of the price, your purchase resulted in a full donation.
- Roy and Liz Saenz’s Se Habla Fiesta medal has 100% of the proceeds donated to the Pan Can Network. No matter the price, that nonprofit will get all the money less the physical cost of producing the medal. Also note, we are paying out this donation per medal sold. In other words, I’m not waiting until the sales exceed the total cost of the medals before donating (most often how 100% of proceed donations go)—I am making the donation that’s the difference on the sales price and the cost for that one medal.
I pride myself on being very clear on how your money is donated to local nonprofits and charities, so if you have any questions that I didn’t address here, please be sure to reach out to me @SAFlavor on Facebook Messenger.
Additionally, I am working with some of our nonprofit organizations that we are selling medals for to see if they want to discount them tomorrow, July 11th at 8:00 p.m. Some may discount, but not all will. Regardless, if you want to support them in full you can get their medal before the sale at full price.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you ALL for the support that you’ve given me over the years. Every single one of y’all that have purchased a medal has helped me realize my dream of becoming an entrepreneur, have empowered me to support my family and have enabled me to give back to the community.
Thanks, VIVA 2021, and wear your mask!
-Garrett
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