"We were totally desperate. It's just been a very rough year," Camille Landry, Nappy Roots co-owner, said during a press conference on Monday, reported by the Oklahoma City Free Press. Landry hoped the Christmas season would have helped the store stay afloat, but because of the soaring COVID-19 infection numbers, most people stayed home and shopped online.

In addition to True Sky's support, other community groups have been organizing fundraising efforts to help the bookstore make it through the coronavirus crisis. In addition to Nappy Roots becoming a center for peaceful community activism to advance racial equality, the bookstore has sponsored events such as a Juneteenth Block Party, the first annual African-American Story-Telling Festival and an online workshop for Oklahoma's Black Writers.

The Oklahoma City-based credit union contribution to the bookstore is part of its ongoing program called Sky Crew, which is essentially the alter ego of True Sky employees who have done and continue to do dozens of random acts of kindness for the communities they serve, Skelly explained. Nearly 180 full-time employees and more than 25 part-time employees work at the credit union serving a membership of 56,066.

"We look for opportunities to be able to certainly help small businesses, but we really help anyone who is struggling," Skelly said. "Obviously in these times it's not hard to find people who are struggling, so we have a lot of opportunities to be able to step up and assist folks in need."

Some of the other random acts of kindness included adopting local restaurants to deliver meals to employees who were coming into their offices, providing free photos for high school seniors whose commencements were cancelled, delivering hundreds of personalized thank you notes to lift the spirits of health care workers, and donating 500 frozen turkeys to needy families.

Last year, Skelly met Landry at a groundbreaking ceremony for a new True Sky branch, just down the street from the bookstore. The branch is under construction and is expected to open during the Spring season.

The new branch is part of True Sky's commitment to provide financial services in the predominately Black neighborhood that is an underserved area.

"We were trying to find the right property that would work for that branch and we ended up purchasing property from a local church that really believes in our investment and our desire to build relationships in that community," Skelly said. "We're very, very excited to be there."

In addition to offering all of the modern banking features and conveniences such as ITMs, the branch will also house a community room equipped with audio-visual equipment that will be free to use for local groups.