2020 Thunderbirds Charities Newsletter
The Thunderbirds – hosts of the Waste Management Phoenix Open raised more than $14 million through proceeds from the 2020 tournament, held at TPC Scottsdale January 27 – February 2, 2020. This figure surpassed last year’s record of $13.2 million and is the ninth straight year of breaking a record for charitable dollars raised in a single year. In its history, dating back to 1932, the Phoenix Open has raised more than $161 million for charities in Arizona.
The Thunderbirds and the Waste Management Phoenix Open have raised more than $95 million for local charities since 2010 when Waste Management (WM) became title sponsor. To put this in perspective, in WM’s first year as title sponsor the tournament raised $4.4 million dollars, and in its 11th year increased that by nearly $10 million.
“We’re extremely proud each and every time we make this announcement, especially when we can announce, for the ninth-straight year, a record-breaking, single-year charitable contribution,” said 2020 Tournament Chairman Tim Woods. “Of course, this can only be possible with the incredible public engagement around our event, the help and support of our corporate partners and especially our title sponsor Waste Management. It’s because of them and the Greatest Fans in Golf we can continue to impact hundreds of Arizona Charities each year.”
Below are a few highlights from our Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 grantees as well as a complete listing of grant awards made during the 2020 fiscal year.
Highlighted Stories:
Arizona Helping Hands
Arizona Helping Hands provides essential needs for children in foster care through programs that promote safety, permanency, and health. Their vision is that every child in foster care is safe and loved and their services remain unduplicated, supporting children in foster care with items, including beds, cribs, clothing, diapers, and hygiene. Arizona Helping Hands also provides backpacks with school supplies to help children succeed in school and fulfills birthday dreams to help raise self-esteem by showing children they are special and loved.
Thunderbirds Charities provided emergency support to Arizona Helping Hands to help families and children in foster care struggling to provide the most basic needs. “To be able to provide our most vulnerable, the children in foster care, with the basic needs such as twin beds, cribs, diapers and wipes is gratifying – and what our organization is all about,” says Tim Woods, President of Thunderbirds Charities. “We are proud to support Arizona Helping Hands in their work in making a difference to the children in foster care and families who need us now more than ever.”
Keep Phoenix Beautiful
Keep Phoenix Beautiful’s vision is to create a vibrant Phoenix where each neighborhood is a healthy, beautiful place to live. A variety of events are held throughout the year to serve the community from gardening classes, neighborhood cleanups and community gardens. Through these initiatives, Keep Phoenix Beautiful provides the tools to empower communities across the Valley to improve the overall quality of life in their neighborhoods.
Thunderbirds Charities recent grant will support Keep Phoenix Beautiful by providing shade, storage and equipment needs at the Mountain View Park Community Garden. The storage container will be built to City Parks standards and provide a needed and well-organized way to store all the garden tools, supplies and equipment. The shade sail will provide a welcome respite for the After-School Program students that come to the garden during the later afternoon to tend to their garden bed. It will also serve as lovely shaded sitting area for community gardeners as well as park visitors who want to just take a moment to enjoy the garden and the beautiful view.
“We are so thankful to the Thunderbird Charities for supporting local initiatives,” said Tom Waldeck, President/CEO of Keep Phoenix Beautiful. “There is no question, that they leave an undeniable mark that is felt throughout our entire community.”
Rebuilding Together Valley of the Sun
Rebuilding Together Valley of the Sun is dedicated to improving lives and preserving affordable housing for low-income homeowners. By providing critical repairs and accessibility modifications at no cost to income-eligible seniors, veterans, families with young children, and those with disabilities; individuals can stay in their homes and communities become safer and healthier.
Thunderbirds Charities has been supporting their Safe at Home Program for many years, which provides much-needed home repairs for homeowners in need. Recently a group of Thunderbirds lent their time and talents to build a wheelchair ramp for a woman with mobility issues. To see the impact of their work in action, click here to watch this short video.
Junior Achievement
Junior Achievement of Arizona serves more than 80,000 students each year by integrating programs into the classroom to help connect real world concepts like the importance of money management, work readiness and entrepreneurial thinking.
As students have transitioned to digital learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Junior Achievement has a need to augment and convert their curriculum to an online format as opposed to paper-based to reach students outside of the classroom. Their programming reach is Kindergarten through high school in thousands of classrooms across 400 schools in Arizona. The need to continue to reach students, no matter how they are learning is crucial now more than ever.
Esperança
Esperança’s mission is to improve health and provide hope through disease prevention, education, and treatment for everyone. Through their core values of Compassion, Integrity, Cultural Awareness and Tenacity they provide treatment and care regardless of the recipient’s walk of life. While Esperança works around the globe, over the past two decades, Esperança’s domestic program has served more than 30,000 children, adults, and seniors in the most vulnerable communities of Maricopa County, ensuring they receive culturally appropriate preventive health education for chronic disease and illness.
The support from Thunderbirds Charities will be used to further support Esperança’s health literacy programs for at-risk, low-income Latino children, adults, and seniors in the Phoenix area. These health literacy programs include Salud con Sabor Latino (Health with a Latin Flavor), Diabetes Empowerment Education Program (DEEP), Platicas (30-minute talks on various health topics), and oral health education for all ages. Almost 4,000 participants are projected to be served through these programs.
Phoenix Police Foundation
The Phoenix Police Foundation addresses unmet capital needs of the City of Phoenix Police Department (PPD), providing financial assistance in crisis situations and recognizing those who protect our communities. Thunderbirds Charities is proud to support the various youth-based programs sponsored by the PPD, such as the Phoenix Police Department Cadet Program, Police Activities League, Hoops for Hope, and Youth Experience.
These programs provide youth with the opportunity to gain leadership skills, law enforcement training and mentorship. The Police Activities League brings together police officers and boys and girls through sports and school-related activities. All the programs provided by the PPD enhance and build on the relationships that police officers have with the youth of their community.
“This grant is an investment in our future. Today’s teenagers are tomorrow’s leaders. As officers and young people have a chance to work side-by-side, they build a camaraderie that lifts our entire community,” said Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams.
