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 Sundt.
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.
Sundt
Since its inception 134 years ago, Sundt has been dedicated to improving the communities where it operates. Giving back is one of our company’s core values and an important part of our culture that is shared across our 12 offices and numerous jobsites. Our employee-owners get involved by giving and volunteering with the Sundt Foundation, which has awarded over $14 million in grants and 25,000+ volunteer hours to numerous nonprofit organizations. In 2023 alone, the Foundation awarded $219,250 in grants to local nonprofits in the Phoenix area.
In addition to offering grants, the Sundt Foundation has raised funds for more than 20 years to support ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) research with the Muscular Dystrophy Association in honor of a former employee-owner named Mike Gaines, who was diagnosed with ALS (i.e. Lou Gehrig’s disease). Honoring his wish to support medical research to find a cure, our teams raise funds from regional golf tournaments throughout Sundt’s areas, with the largest event being in Phoenix. Last year, the Phoenix Mike Gaines Charity Golf Tournament raised a record-breaking $140,000. Since we started these events, we’ve raised $2.2M for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
One of our long-standing partners, the Foster Alliance (formerly known as Arizona Helping Hands) reached out to us in 2023 to share its plans to turn an existing office space into a new Foster Resource Center. This new facility would be an expanded, more welcoming space for foster youth and their families to come in and “shop” for necessities such as clothing, shoes, diapers and more. Sundt employee-owners answered the call for help and utilized their specialized skills in construction. From removing existing structures, reassembling office spaces, and building new walls to assembling clothing racks for this new shopping experience, employee-owners assisted throughout the renovation process to ensure a successful project completion. With the help provided by hundreds of volunteer hours and hands-on work donated by Sundt volunteers, thousands of Arizona foster kids will now have a more enjoyable experience while selecting necessary supplies and clothing. For additional groups who wanted to support the organization in other ways, several more Sundt teams volunteered their time – birthday gift shopping for foster kids, preparing thank you gifts for volunteers, and the most recent Holiday Joy Drive efforts, which included providing a grant to fund a special shopping spree for foster teens at Phoenix Premium Outlets in Chandler.
Sundt wrapping up the resource center renovation this spring with the Foster Alliance. Our support was donated pro bono to the Foster Alliance, saving the organization over $500,000 in renovation costs, demonstrating Sundt’s commitment to improving our communities where we live and work. We are dedicated to giving back and recognize the tremendous opportunity we have to build and improve upon our surroundings in ways we all prosper.
