Great Wolf Lodge donates linens to homeless families
Family Promise of Greater Phoenix, a nonprofit organization that rescues primarily first-time homeless families and their pets and helps them return to independence, received a donation of hundreds of linens from Great Wolf Lodge Arizona. This effort is part of Great Wolf Lodge’s company-wide Paw Pledge initiative, which focuses on health and safety of its guests and pack, commitment to the community, and providing travel flexibility to families.
Located within the Salt River Pima‐Maricopa Indian Community’s Talking Stick Entertainment District, Great Wolf Lodge Arizona was the planned site of Family Promise’s annual fundraising event, previously scheduled to be held in early April 2020. However, with the spread of coronavirus, the event was postponed to October 2020. Despite the postponement, Great Wolf Lodge wanted to show their support to Family Promise by donating hundreds of linens for the families that they are serving. The donation included bath towels, hand towels, washcloths, bathmats, sheets, pillowcases, and more.
Currently, Family Promise is sheltering more than a dozen families at their day center in south Scottsdale. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Family Promise relied on its network of volunteer churches and synagogues to shelter and feed the families they serve while Family Promise assisted these families on their journey back to self-sufficiency. Family Promise has had to abandon its community-based model to protect its volunteers and families from the potential spread of the virus.
Family Promise says that the linen donation is crucial to providing comfort and care to the families that they are currently sheltering and help them get started in their new homes after they graduate from the program.
“With each family that we serve, our goal is to guarantee a quality experience for them while they are in our care and to get them settled into their own home after graduating from our program while working to keep everyone safe during this health crisis,” said Ted Taylor, Executive Director at Family Promise of Greater Phoenix. “We are truly thankful to have valuable partners like Great Wolf Lodge to step up and help us during this time, we are so appreciative of their support for our families.”
Sedona hotels reward clerks’ dedication during coronavirus crisis
As the coronavirus crisis has ravaged communities around the world, a great deal of well-deserved praise has been directed toward the healthcare workers and first responders who have braved the front lines to care for patients. In this same spirit of gratitude, the Sedona Lodging Council has chosen to celebrate a less commonly acknowledged group of heroes with close ties to the community: the local retail and grocery store checkers and baggers who have risked their own health to ensure that Sedona residents could obtain necessary supplies. To offer these workers a much-needed respite from serving the public, upscale hotels belonging to the Sedona Lodging Council have agreed to donate complimentary room nights for up to 150 local retail and store workers between their reopening dates and August 15, 2020. In total, the room nights donated have an average value of $225 per night, equaling $33,750 in complimentary stays as a gift for these local heroes.
The Sedona Lodging Council’s program is voluntary for member hotels, with those participating agreeing to offer free one- or two-night stays for select retail store workers. The Council will provide the offer cards to the managers of local Sedona stores who agreed to participate in this program. Those stores include Sedona Ace Hardware, Village Ace Hardware, Bashas’ Supermarket Sedona, and Clark’s Market & Pharmacy. The store managers will retain discretion over which front-line employees receive cards. Upon awarding of the offer cards, the recipient employees will contact the hotels to determine a mutually agreeable date for booking their no-cost slice of Sedona luxury.
“While most of us were told to stay home and protect ourselves and others from the coronavirus, one group has kept working: retail workers at our local markets and hardware stores. Day in and day out, these employees have come to work, putting themselves and their loved ones in danger,” commented Steve Segner, President of the Sedona Lodging Council. “The local hotels want to say thanks to the retail clerks that have supported us.”
“Our Enchantment Resort team is proud to partner with the Sedona Lodging Council and come together with fellow member hotels to support our local front-line workers,” said Stan Kantowski, Managing Director of Enchantment Resort. “The sacrifice these brave individuals make every day has not gone unnoticed. We are grateful for their service and this opportunity to give back to our Sedona community.”
OneAZ awards $200,000 in emergency COVID-19 Community Impact Grants
OneAZ Credit Union and OneAZ Community Foundation awarded $200,000 in emergency COVID-19 Community Impact Grants to Arizona 501(c)3 organizations impacted by COVID-19.
OneAZ launched the emergency grant program March 23 and received more than 300 grant applications in just two weeks. The organization selected 100 organizations in need to each receive a $2,000 grant to help them continue services.
“OneAZ has a longstanding commitment to the community and worked as quickly as possible to get the $200,000 in emergency COVID-19 Community Impact Grants awarded. We’re proud to help these nonprofit organizations continue their work, providing what in many cases are life-saving services for those in need,” said Kim Reedy, President and CEO for OneAZ Credit Union.
OneAZ awarded $78,000, or 39 percent of its total COVID-19 Community Impact Grants, to food bank programs across Arizona. These programs face some of the greatest challenges in today’s marketplace – simultaneously experiencing a huge increase in demand and decrease in business support and volunteers affected by Arizona’s shelter in place order.
Additional large groups of grantees included organizations serving children’s health (22 percent), local youth programs (18 percent), and military, veterans’ and first responders’ interests (12 percent). The emergency COVID-19 Community Impact Grants provided funding for nonprofit organizations serving one or more of OneAZ’s five key community focus areas: food banks, children’s health, military, veterans’ and first responders’ interests, local youth programs, and financial literacy.
In the last four years OneAZ has awarded nearly $600,000 to nonprofits statewide as part of its commitment to supporting the local economy while also making a difference in the quality of life for those who live and work in Arizona.
For a full list of recipients, visit https://www.oneazcu.com/about/foundation/covid-19-arizona-grant/.
AZ Big Media is looking to spotlight those individuals and businesses that have stepped up in the face of the current crisis we are all living through and made a difference in the communities in which we live, work and play. Do you know someone or an organization we should spotlight? Send the details to michael.gossie@azbigmedia.com.
