Maricopa nonprofits for kids and vets join Arizona Gives Day

Maricopa nonprofits have not taken advantage of the annual Arizona Gives Day in the past. This year, at least a couple of groups are joining in.

Arizona Gives is a 24-hour period for residents to give participating Arizona nonprofits an extra boost to their normal fund-raising efforts. This year it is April 5 from midnight to midnight.

It is hosted by the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits and Arizona Grantmakers Forum, and its corporate sponsor is FirstBank.

Since it started in 2013, Arizona Gives has raised $4.5 million for thousands of nonprofits. Success in drumming up donations is reliant on how much effort the nonprofits put into spreading the word about the big day.

This year, Holsteiner Agricultural School is participating for its Ag-Day Field Trip Program.

“We are excited about working with ‘AZ Gives Day’ this year. We are hoping to raise funds for our ever-growing gardening program. All donations will go directly to increasing our students’ agricultural awareness,” School Director Tanya Graysmark said.

The Ag-Day program includes visits to MAC Farms, Shamrock Farms, Buckelew Farm, Tolmachoff Farms, Schnepf Farms, Leaf & Feather Farm, Biosphere, Desert Botanical Gardens, UofA Cooperative Extension, a trip to a rodeo and livestock shows. There are also virtual field trips through Skype and the students’ own gardening program, which always needs materials.

Also participating in this year’s Arizona Gives Day from Maricopa is Wild West Vets, established in 2014 at the south end of John Wayne Parkway.

Co-founders Deanna and Naji Alkateeb created Wild West Vets after a number of veterans settled in as full-time residents in their RV park. These veterans said their lives had improved by living in a community setting with others who could relate to their military experiences. In addition, the family members of those veterans – many of whom are caregivers – were in need of support and simply appreciated the peaceful living environment of the RV park.

The vision of Wild West Vets is to “provide all veterans with a restful place to ‘stand down’ from the burden of housing and wellness costs while recovering from physical and/or psychological stress.” It serves veterans over 65, disabled and/or in financial need.

Arizona Gives Day offers participating nonprofits an opportunity to raise awareness about their work, source new donors and win prize money to supplement individual donations. Last year, Arizona nonprofits raised $2,054,417 through the generosity of 17,260 donors with many donors giving to multiple organizations. The average donation was $86.

Donations raised are deposited directly in the nonprofits’ accounts.

For more information or to sign up your nonprofit, visit AzGives.org.