LA MESA, Calif. — Hundreds of people showed up to in La Mesa Monday to help businesses that were damaged during riots Saturday night.

“Most of these people I don’t know. They’re just there because they want to help,” said Dan Buxton, owner of Play It Again Sports.

The store in the La Mesa Springs Shopping Center was one of many stores damaged and looted after protests turned into violent riots. Buxton and his family moved to San Diego a year and a half ago. He said he invested his entire life savings into the business.

“I felt like everything was lost,” Buxton said. “All the time we put it money all for nothing so i felt a lot of despair.”

Early Sunday, hundreds of strangers turned out to help clean up the city. The support continued the next day.

Two men from La Mesa Glass were offering to help repair storefronts for free.

“We’re just walking up and down the area trying to offer free glass replacements to mom-and-pop shops that don’t have the money to do the replacements because they’ve been closed for a few months and now this has happened so it’s a burden on them. We’re just trying to do the community a favor.”

Many of the businesses that were damaged Saturday had planned to reopen Monday after being closed for two months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, their re-openings have been delayed by about a week.