The “Let’s Give Arizona a Hand Up Award” will be presented at the upcoming Champions of Change Awards through a partnership between AZ Big Media and Habitat for Humanity Central Arizona. Finalists for the award were determined based on how their company’s corporate giving and community volunteer activities are building a brighter future for Arizona nonprofits and making a direct and quantifiable impact on our communities. The Champions of Change Awards will be held Thursday, May 16, 2024. Each day leading up to the event, we will preview one finalist for the Let’s Give Arizona a Hand Up Award. Today, learn about Lerner & Rowe.

Sponsors of the Champions of Change Awards include BOK Financial (impact sponsor), Habitat for Humanity Central Arizona (spotlight sponsor), Stearns Bank (step-and-repeat sponsor), Maricopa Corporate College at Maricopa Community Colleges (photo booth sponsor), Lerner & Rowe Gives Back (name tag sponsor), REDW Advisors and CPAs (floral sponsor) and Center for the Future of Arizona (dessert sponsor).

To learn more about the Champions of Change Awards, click here.

Lerner & Rowe

Lerner and Rowe Injury Attorneys is a premier Arizona law firm that is very active in communities across the state. In the past five years alone, Lerner and Rowe has given away 11,500 backpacks stuffed with school supplies to underprivileged students in Arizona and fed 10,250 Arizona families facing financial struggles during the Thanksgiving holiday season. These notable contributions are just a few highlights of its charitable efforts and account for just a portion of the millions of dollars that have been given back through sponsorships, donations, giveaways, and other philanthropic endeavors across the state.

More specifically–in just half a decade–Lerner and Rowe has been actively involved in building relationships with like- minded individuals and organizations to help raise funds through its nonprofit–Lerner and Rowe Gives Back–for total funds exceeding $3.34+ million. 100% of those funds were used to positively impact four community pillars of focus: youth programs, health and human services, animal welfare, and public safety.

Examples of organizations proudly supported include: Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Fiesta Bowl Charities, Make-A-Wish Foundation, PANDA, Southern Arizona American Heart Association, It’s Hip to Chip, #LovePup, and Military Assistance Mission.

And since Lerner and Rowe is always looking for new ways to positively build a brighter future for various Arizona nonprofits, it decided to create a grant program in 2023. The first grant year resulted in 18 Arizona grant awards totaling over $210,000.

A few of the Arizona nonprofits chosen to receive a 2023 grant were: Valleywise Health Foundation, HUNKAPI, Ability 360, Valley Humane Society, Junior Achievement Arizona, Gabriel’s Angels, The Be Kind People Project, and Kitchen on the Street (KOS AZ).

The 2024 grant season kicked-off on January 30th and closed at 11:59 (MST) on March 5th.

And even though our philanthropic actions are not done out of a need for recognition, the team at Lerner and Rowe is always humbled whenever they do receive special accolades, such as the following examples from community partners, peers, and other entities such as: Kevin Rowe being selected as the Philanthropic Business Leader of the Year in AZ Business publication’s 2023 Champions of Change Awards; Lerner and Rowe Gives Back being voted the most philanthropic company 2017 – 2023 by readers of AZ Foothills Magazine; Being recognized as a 2022 Philanthropic

Company of the Year by the Phoenix Business Journal; and Kevin Rowe with Lerner and Rowe Gives Back being voted 2023 most Influential in Valley Nonprofit also by AZ Foothill Magazine’s readers.

Those accolades aside, Lerner and Rowe finds the countless numbers of smiles and personal expressions of gratitude the most valuable accolade of all.