A gift card program designed to help downtown Tucson businesses weather the coronavirus crisis has raised more $105,000 in just three weeks.
The Downtown Tucson Partnership program launched its third online sale of 1,000 gift cards to local businesses Friday morning and sold out in less than 15 minutes.
For each $25 gift card purchased, $10 was added to the card courtesy of HSL Properties, which funded the third round of sales and has signed on for a fourth round that will go on sale on Wednesday, April 22.
Each fundraising sale has resulted in the investment of $35,000 directly to over 60 participating downtown restaurants, museums, breweries, boutiques, hotels, grocers, spas, gyms and more.
The online sales appear to have grown in popularity each week with the first round selling out in little more than 24 hours and the second selling out in less than two hours.
The next sale of 1,000 gift cards will go live on Wednesday, April 22, at 6 a.m.
For more information on participating businesses and for a link to the next sale, go to downtowntucson.org.
Photos for April 11: Tucson gets by during Coronavirus Pandemic
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Susan Hillman chats with her mother Betty Hillman via telephone, April 9, 2020, Tucson, Ariz. Eighty-five year old Betty Hillman is in long term skilled care and Susan is unable to visit due to COVID-19 restrictions on nursing home facilities.
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Susan Hillman chats with her mother Betty Hillman near a photo of Betty and her husband, Susan's dad, Bill, circa 2105, April 9, 2020, Tucson, Ariz. Eighty-five year old Betty Hillman is in long term skilled care and Susan is unable to visit due to COVID-19 restrictions on nursing home facilities.
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Ben Forbes, left, owner of Forbes Meat Company, helps Jeronimo "Mo" Madril, right owner and executive chef of Geronimo's Revenge, wrap up tortilla's for to-go carnitas for Forbes Meat Company and Geronimo's Revenge's "Carnitas for the community" at Thunder Canyon Brewery, 220 E. Broadway Blvd., in Tucson, Ariz., on April 6, 2020. Forbes Meat Company and Geronimo's Revenge partnered to help the restaurant community by offering free carnitas to those affected by the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). They will be making to go carnitas every Monday in April starting at 2pm until all the to go packs, roughly 60, are all gone. Forbes wanted to find a way to help out the restaurant community. "They are struggling and my business is exploding," said Forbes.
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David Clark, left, out of work bartender, and Jeronimo "Mo" Madril, owner and executive chef of Geronimo's Revenge, practice social distancing while waiting to give out carnitas for Forbes Meat Company and Geronimo's Revenge's "Carnitas for the community" at Thunder Canyon Brewery, 220 E. Broadway Blvd., in Tucson, Ariz., on April 6, 2020. Forbes Meat Company and Geronimo's Revenge partnered to help the restaurant community by offering free carnitas to those affected by the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). They will be making to go carnitas every Monday in April starting at 2pm until all the to go packs, roughly 60, are all gone.
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Steve Tracy, Thunder Canyon Brewery co-owner and brewer, fills up 16oz bottles of locally made hand sanitizer at Thunder Canyon Brewery, 220 E. Broadway Blvd., in Tucson, Ariz., on April 6, 2020. Thunder Canyon Brewery, along with a few other local distilleries, are making United States Food and Drug Administration approved hand sanitizer for hospitals, first responders and the public in response to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). "Whatever I have, I am turning into hand sanitizer," said Tracy. "We are going to keep making it as much as we can."
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Steve Tracy, Thunder Canyon Brewery co-owner and brewer, fills up 16oz bottles of locally made hand sanitizer at Thunder Canyon Brewery, 220 E. Broadway Blvd., in Tucson, Ariz., on April 6, 2020. Thunder Canyon Brewery, along with a few other local distilleries, are making United States Food and Drug Administration approved hand sanitizer for hospitals, first responders and the public in response to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). "Whatever I have, I am turning into hand sanitizer," said Tracy. "We are going to keep making it as much as we can."
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David Sbarra, a psychology professor at the University of Arizona, points his webcam at his children Margot, 9, and Mateo, 12, as he begins his introduction of his office hours for a class he now conducts over Zoom in his living room while teaching from home, on April 7, 2020.
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Ben Elias, manager at Westbound, center, helps Dustin Schaber with his pickup order on April 8, 2020. Due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) only two customers are allowed in the shop, located at the MSA Annex, at the same time and all orders are to-go.
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Laura Tanzer, a local fashion designer, posted on Facebook that she will make masks for $5.00 each on April 5. Tanzer thought she would receive a couple of dozen orders, but, within 24 hours she heard from over 200 people. Tanzer is now working out of her shop in downtown Tucson making masks that also has a filter sowed into them. Tanzer is wearing one of her masks as she sows on April 8, 2020.
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Oro Valley Hospital chief administration officer Erinn Oller talks with Fang, a local organizer with the Chinese-American COVID-19 Relief AZ group, which donated 6,000 masks, on April 9, 2020. Additional mask donations are planned as soon as shipments arrive.
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Healthcare workers line up for their 2 free Sonoran hot dogs and a drink from BK Carne Asada & Hot Dogs in the parking lot of St. Mary's Hospital on April 10, 2020. The owner, Benny Galaz, is giving free food to healthcare workers at Tucson area hospitals for the next several weeks as a way to say thank you for their hard work during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.
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Benny Galaz, owner of BK Carne Asada & Hot Dogs, cooks up Sonoran hot dogs in the parking lot of St. Mary's Hospital on April 10, 2020. Galaz is giving free food to healthcare workers at Tucson area hospitals for the next several weeks as a way to say thank you for their hard work during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.
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Healthcare workers line up for their 2 free Sonoran hot dogs and a drink from BK Carne Asada & Hot Dogs in the parking lot of St. Mary's Hospital on April 10, 2020. The owner, Benny Galaz, is giving free food to healthcare workers at Tucson area hospitals for the next several weeks as a way to say thank you for their hard work during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak.
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A man uses the taped off exercise station in Reid Park as an anchor for his band workout, April 8, 2020, Tucson, Ariz.
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Alicia Roseanna, 9, fourth grader at Esperanza Elementary School, grabs a sheet of paper while listening to her teacher, Rachel Watson, and her classmates inside her home in Tucson, Ariz. during Watson's online class on April 7, 2020. Due to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) closing down schools and universities, teachers and students have been forced to schedule and participate in classes online for the remainder of the school year.
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COVID-19 survivor, Glen Reed, poses for a photo looking out from the room he's using for isolation from his family in his home, April 10, 2020, Tucson, Ariz. Reed spent nearly a month in the hospital including weeks in ICU on a ventilator.
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ER and EMS workers run through a drill practicing how to process an incoming patient experiencing a respiratory emergency at the Tucson Medical Center's Emergency Room, on April 10, 2020.
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Tucson Fire Paramedic personnel prepare to run a drill at the Tucson Medical Center's Emergency Room, on April 10, 2020.
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The CDC recommends Americans wear a facial covering when out in public, part of an effort to reduce the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. Above, shopping for spring blooms at Tucson’s Green Things Nursery.
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Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) signs taped onto dorms at the Babcock Dorms. The rooms located at 1717 E Speedway Boulevard may be used to house hospital workers from Banner - University Medical Center if they need to be quarantined due to COVID-19.
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Alex Swain, a member of Beloved in the Desert - Tucson's chapter of the Episcopal Service Corps, packs the trunk of his housemate's SUV in the parking lot of Fry's on 2480 N Swan Road after grocery shopping for an elderly man, on April 3, 2020. Swain and his housemates have volunteered to shop for elderly and at risk populations as people quarantine and stay at home during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
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Julisa Montano, a bus driver with Sunnyside Unified School District, gathers up the last few meals to hand out to students outside of Gallego Primary School, on April 7, 2020. The school district is distributing meals and has wifi available for students to use for school.
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A table is taped off at Fred Enke Golf Course, 8251 E. Irvington Rd., in Tucson, Ariz., on April 5, 2020 due to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). With a rise in the amount of people participating in golf, due to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), Tucson City Golf is taking extra measures to keep people safe such as sanitizing golf carts after each use and social distancing.
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Rich DelVecchio, a Fred Enke Golf Course employee, sanitizes a golf cart. Course revenues at Tucson’s city-owned golf properties are up nearly 28% from the same period last year.
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Golfers practice social distancing while on the driving range at Fred Enke Golf Course, 8251 E. Irvington Rd., in Tucson, Ariz., on April 5, 2020. With a rise in the amount of people participating in golf, due to Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), Tucson City Golf is taking extra measures to keep people safe such as sanitizing golf carts after each use and social distancing.
