AZ Giving

Aakanksha Saxena, an incoming senior at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, founded Literacy Spree, a 501(c) (3) nonprofit, in 2014. Literacy Spree aims to empower underprivileged female youth through education, more specifically at a female orphanage in India. In 2015 the non-profits crowdfunding campaign raised a total of $4417 resulting in a significant difference in the lives of the girls in touches.

Through Literacy Spree, Saxana enrolled recipients in vocational skill development diploma courses at UPTEC. UPTEC offers various diploma courses in Computer Science, Accounting, and Finance that enable females from...

Make a difference with style at the Brave Wings Fashion Show on Saturday, July 16, at The Vintage 45, from 7 to 11 p.m. The show will benefit The Arizona Burn Foundation, the local organization that supports the quality of life of burn survivors and promotes burn prevention education.

Unlike most injuries, burn injuries leave behind both physical and emotional scaring that can last a lifetime. The Arizona Burn Foundation provides burn survivors and families with crisis care, recovery care and the tools to achieve a thriving lifestyle again. Crisis and recovery care include assisting clients directly after a crisis and with on-going medical needs...

by Candy Thompson

They call her Momma Bear. “They” are the women residents at A New Leaf’s East Valley Women’s Shelter (EVWS). “Momma Bear,” otherwise known as Keely, is also a resident at the shelter. She speaks softly and with great passion early one morning under a big, red umbrella at the back yard table. She calls out to every woman by name as they head off to work, giving them words of encouragement for the day. A strong feeling of mutual admiration and respect is shared, and another day begins at the women’s shelter.

Can one act of violence strip a...

Special Olympics International has hit a milestone of 1.2 million participants in Unified Sports—in part thanks to the Special Olympics Arizona. The athletes involved in Unified Sports are individuals with intellectual disabilities and their teammates are individuals without intellectual disabilities, also known as Unified participants.

“Unified Sports allow for all individuals to play sports regardless of their abilities,” says Laura Duncan, Director of Arizona Interscholastic Association for Unified Sports and Special Olympics. “Unified Sports are helping break down those disability barriers.”

Having spearheaded the...