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When the Impact Austin program began in March, it was faced with a tall task of building momentum in the midst of a pandemic.

Just a few months later, the Impact Austin Together gift card program has raised $21,000 for the Salvation Army and helped local businesses by selling $21,000 worth of gift cards.

The program involves selling gift cards for 50 local businesses to community members and the cost of those gift cards is matched with a donation from the Hormel Foundation to the Salvation Army.

“We found ourselves in this unique situation of launching our organization right in the middle of the pandemic,” said Impact Austin Coordinator Mary Anne Duren. “We saw a need in helping small businesses and people who needed food security because of lost wages.”

The program has been a success in a time of need for the community. Besides the Hormel Foundation, the Cedar River Watershed District and the Development Corporation of Austin have stepped up by making big gift card purchases.

Duren is pleased with how the community has come forward to help one another.

“We knew that they would step up, because we heard people saying they wanted to help the community,” she said. “To be able to connect people with these resources to help the community has really been amazing. We did this in like a month and half time. It has been really amazing to see this community support.”

Impact Austin is an annual community initiative that came out of Vision 2020. Its mission is to connect community and resources to help Austin grow.

The gift card program will continue running through the end of the year as it looks to keep Austin going.

“We want to be ready to support businesses if there are any more (COVID-19) cases in the future,” Duren said.