Child Crisis Arizona’s 2025 Lunch for Love was a powerful testament to community and compassion. Nearly 500 guests gathered at the Arizona Biltmore Resort, where the organization raised more than $1 million in just one hour to support foster care and adoption services, family education, children’s counseling, and health and wellness programs. The tone for the afternoon was set by Child Crisis Arizona chief executive officer Torrie A. Taj, whose welcome painted a raw and human portrait of the realities many young people face. 

“Picture a young adult who grew up in foster care. On their 18th birthday, they ‘age out’ of the system. One week they have a roof over their head; the next, they don’t. Just the overwhelming challenge of stepping into adulthood alone,” Taj said to the audience. “Or a child removed from home because of abuse. That moment of uncertainty is one no child should ever face. Yet too many do. And when they do, it’s up to all of us to step in, to wrap them in safety, stability, and love.”

Taj emphasized that Child Crisis Arizona is committed not merely to responding in times of crisis, but to preventing those crises from forming in the first place. She described the organization’s unique wraparound model of care; a network of services that supports families early, empowers parents to succeed, and ensures children have the environment they deserve. 

The Child Crisis Arizona Everlasting Impact Initiative represents a long-term strategy to sustain the organization’s award-winning early education programs for generations to come. Through it, donors are invited to make transformational gifts, leaving their legacy in classrooms, playgrounds, and the spaces where children learn, build confidence, and dream.

Leadership voices at Lunch for Love echoed the organization’s vision of holistic, age-spanning support. Board chair Dino Camunez and past chair Mary Michel both took the stage, reinforcing how deeply rooted Child Crisis Arizona has become within the community. 

“In the past year, Child Crisis Arizona has served nearly 50,000 individuals through prevention, intervention, and wellness programming,” said Camunez.

In a single hour, Lunch for Love generated over $1 million. But the event’s true measure of impact is found in the lives that investment will touch, the families who will find stability, and the children who will be met not with fear or uncertainty, but with hope. To learn more about Child Crisis Arizona or the Everlasting Impact Initiative, visit childcrisisaz.org.