January 5, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Andrea J. Sok Save the Family Foundation of Arizona 450 W. 4th Place Mesa, AZ. 85201 Phone: 480-898-0228×215 andreas@savethefamily.org www.savethefamily.org
Mesa Resident honored by the Arizona Cardinals for Volunteer Work
Glendale, AZ. – January, 3rd 2009 Mesa resident Bob Emmelkamp was honored at Sunday’s Cardinals-Packers game for his commitment to many area Valley nonprofits. Emmelkamp, or “Computer Bob” as most call him provides computer support for Mesa-based Save the Family. “Bob volunteers more than a 1000 hours a year with us. He keeps our technology running! Without him I don’t know what we would do,” says John Lamkin, Interim Executive Director for Save the Family.
Emmelkamp also donates his time to the Arizona Chapter of Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, SAARC and many other Valley nonprofits. Emmelkamp was honored in a ceremony prior to Sunday’s game by the Arizona Cardinals as one of the finalists for the Cardinals Community Quarterback Award.
Save the Family (www.savethefamily.org) provides transitional housing and case management services to more than 300 families a year. With more than 165 housing units serving homeless families with children throughout the Valley, Save the Family is changing the face of homelessness one family at a time. Through programs like Career Development and domestic violence and parenting classes, clients in Save the Family’s program learn to become both economically and emotionally self-sufficient.
MISSION STATEMENT: We help children in homeless families by treating the whole family with programs to break the negative cycles of poverty, abuse and homelessness. We strengthen the Valley’s communities by facilitating their transition to self-sufficiency.
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December 31, 2009
Arizona children are living in poverty at a rate higher than any other state according to the recently released America’s Health Rankings. The study showed 26.2 percent of children under 18 are living in poverty.
The same study released last year ranked us at 38th. How did we manage to drop down 12 spots in one year?
Arizona food banks have reported a 95 percent increase of food distributed in Arizona from last year. Poverty guidelines are updated annually in the Federal Register by the U. S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and currently define the poverty threshold as a gross annual income of less than $22,050 for a family of four. As of March 2009, 791,244 Arizonans receive SNAP (food stamp) benefits, a 22% increase over March 2008.
Other areas where Arizona majorly lacked in the survey include a lack of overall coverage of healthcare, where we ranked 45th. We are also ranked 35th for unemployment levels. The survey also showed Arizona as 39th in highschool graduation rates.
It seems Arizona has a lot of issues in areas where there should be no excuses. The well-being of children should be number one as well as the overall health of people in our state.
What can be done to dissect the areas that are causing negativity and harm? And how do we put it all back together again to make it better? Arizona needs to focus on ways to help these struggling families and children.
By Krista Norsworthy, Intern
November 6, 2009
An article in the Philanthropy Journal on September 10, 2009 reported that although corporate funding for 2009 is down, more than eight in 10 corporations are encouraging volunteering among employees and more than half are reporting an increase in volunteerism.
While volunteerism may be up, corporations are being increasingly cautious with their grant making, due to the economic crunch they are in. According to the article about a third are ending their current relationships with their grantees and about the same number are looking for new nonprofit partners.
-Krista Norsworthy, Intern, Save the Family
November 6, 2009
According to a survey released by the Children’s Action Alliance, 331,000 Arizona kids ages 0-17 live in poverty. Arizona’s “overall child well-being” level ranks 40th, with 50 being the worst. Arizona is 46th with children living without healthcare, leaving 286,00 children without security for their health. The results of the survey are astounding and represent the crisis that our children are facing within the state.
Arizona also ranks 49th when it comes to teen violence and death rates and currently has 1,737 youth in juvenile detention facilities.
The survey points out how much our education system is at risk as well, ranking 47th for 4th graders scoring below basic reading level. We rank 46th on the list for number of 16-19 year olds who drop out of school. 37,558 of teens dropping out of school a year. How does our social system in our state allow this be so high? Since when has going to highschool been optional? Education is the key to our children’s futures and it is clear the state is doing a poor job of setting the building blocks for our youth.
It appears child abuse has also become a norm for our state with 34,587 reports of suspected child abuse and neglect a year. Thats an average of 95 a day! Child abuse and neglect also leaves 10,404 kids in foster care a year and an average of 15 infants murdered a year.
Our teenage girls are getting pregnant at remarkable rates, we rank 47th on the list for births from girls ages 15 to 17. An average of 35 children a day are born to teen girls in Arizona with 12,824 a year.
Clearly this survey shows that we are doing a poor job as a state ensuring that our youth is safe and educated. It’s remarkable that this statistics are a reality, some of them are really hard to morally face. If you would like to get involved in trying to change these numbers please do. You can visit www.azchildren.org or come into Save the Family to see how you can help!
-Krista Norsworthy, Intern, Save the Family
November 6, 2009
An article in the Phoenix Business Journal reported that last year Phoenix had a larger percentage of jobs lost than any other major U.S. city. According to the article the Phoenix workforce dropped a whopping 7.8 percent between July 2008 to July 2009. Tucson wasn’t far behind at 7.5 percent.
Phoenix came in fourth place when it come to number of total employment lost with more that 140,000 jobs! The top three were all MAJOR cities and included Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.
-Krista Northsworthy, Intern, Save the Family
October 28, 2009
Domestic violence doesn’t discriminate. It affects men, woman and children of all different backgrounds,ages and circumstances. One place someone should never fear is the home where the live and the people who live within it.
By definition, domestic violence is a pattern of behavior that includes the use or threat of violence and intimidation for the purpose of gaining power and control over another person. This behavior can be physical, verbal, sexual, and emotional.
On a national level, according to the Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence an estimated 85 percent of domestic violence victims are women and 1 in 4 women in America will experience domestic violence within their lives. An alarming 4.5 million physical assaults are committed against U.S. women by intimate partners annually. Dating violence is a big problem in Arizona with approximately one in five female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner.
There were 27 deaths involved with dating relationships last year alone! According to newspaper reports, 106 people died in Arizona in 2000 as a result of a domestic violence related homicide. In 2001, 92 people died in Arizona as a result of a domestic violence related homicide.
It is apparent domestic violence is a huge prevalent problem in Arizona and this country. Please get involved with helping this cause. Even if domestic violence doesn’t affect you directly, it effects you indirectly. If you have a feeling that someone around you is a victim of domestic violence, listen to it and say something.
Domestic violence should never be taken lightly and has been silenced way too long. Help bring awareness to this issue this month and do your part to end this horrible reality. Purple is the color for the Month’s activities so wear purple ribbons to bring national awareness to the issues faced by battered women and their children.
Sources:
Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence, www.azcadv.org
-Krista Northsworthy, Intern, Save the Family
October 19, 2009
Save the Family Board Member Linda Minde will be honored as a finalist for the 22nd Annual ATHENA Award. Minde has actively served on the Board of Save the Family, and as Chair of the Public Relations, Fundraising and Promotions Committee since September 2008.
The ATHENA Awards honor Valley Businesswomen for their excellence in business and leadership, exemplary community service and their support and mentorship of other women.
Minde has participated in, and contributed financially to, many events and fundraisers at Save the Family and has advocated for the agency in her company as well as in the community. Her company, Tri-Lite Builders, has donated labor and materials for remodeling project at Save the Family and has offered to do a yearly volunteer project.
The ATHENA Award’s will be held this Wednesday at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa. Individual Reservations are $65 for Chamber members or Nominees and $75 for non-members.
October 17, 2009
For Immediate Release:
Scottsdale Fashion Square – Oct. 15th – 18th
The Mannequin Is Our Muse art exhibition will feature 100 mannequins designed by local businesses and organizations. The Mannequins will be on display at the Barney’s New York grand opening event at Scottsdale Fashion Square mall in Scottsdale, Oct. 15 – 18. Local celebrity judges will choose the top five designs to be showcased at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in late October.
Save the Family’s mannequin is a domestic violence survivor. The theme combines art and design to represent the foundation’s mission and support national Domestic Violence Awareness month.
Save the Family (www.savethefamily.org) provides transitional housing and case management services to more than 300 families a year. With more than 160 housing units serving homeless families with children throughout the Valley, Save the Family is changing the face of homelessness one family at a time. Through programs like Career Development and domestic violence and parenting classes, clients in Save the Family’s program learn to become both economically and emotionally self-sufficient.
MISSION STATEMENT: We help children in homeless families by treating the whole family with programs to break the negative cycles of poverty, abuse and homelessness. We strengthen the Valley’s communities by facilitating their transition to self-sufficiency.
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