Visitors to Little Rock’s South Main Street, or SoMa, neighborhood will have the chance to give back to local nonprofits throughout 2024.
Through the program called SoMa Cares, patrons of shops and restaurants can round up their purchases, donating the extra cents to a different nonprofit each month.
Elizabeth Michael, executive director of the nonprofit SoMa 501, says the decision to give back was an easy one.
“Almost everyone’s on the same point of sale system, it’s easy to do. It’s a no-brainer, really, because it sends the money directly to the nonprofit,” she said. “It was an easy thing for the whole entire community to get behind, and we’ve seen nothing but support from all of our merchants in the neighborhood.”
Michael says the SoMa Cares program originally began in response to the March 31, 2023 tornado in central Arkansas. A number of businesses clustered around South Main Street began accepting donations to benefit victims of the storm.
Nonprofits could receive as much as $2,000 per month in donations, Michael estimates, though that total could increase in months with special events, such as April’s total solar eclipse.
“They’re anticipating hundreds of thousands of people from out of town coming into our state, and we don’t really know what that looks like in SoMa. I think that those deserving nonprofits [which] might just so happen to fall on events like that will really see an upswing because of them.”
Michael says about ten businesses in the SoMa neighborhood are participating in the program, with hopes to expand to more. The Wolfe Street Foundation, an addiction recovery nonprofit based in Little Rock, will receive the program’s donations through the month of January.
The remainder of the year’s schedule is as follows.
- February: Mosaic Templars Cultural Center
- March: Women and Children First
- April: Little Rock Animal Village
- May: The Centers for Youth & Families
- June: Free Mom Hugs in Arkansas
- July: SoMa 501 Little Rock, Inc.
- August: UAMS 12th Street Health & Wellness Center
- September: Washington Elementary
- October: El Zócalo
- November: Depaul USA Jericho Way
- December: Our House
