BLOG


It’s October and Halloween is coming! Here are some ideas for fun activities to do with your children. Enjoy making these creepy crafts.
Just like the company she works for (Native Grill & Wings) Cynthia Velasco is a native Zonie. While she markets scrumptious pizza, wings, and beverages for the local restaurant franchise, she’s also a whiz at spreading the word about United Way’s young professionals group as a Gen U ambassador.

Everyday, thousands of kids throughout the Valley go to school without breakfast. We’ve teamed up with the Arizona Department of Education and the Dairy Council of Arizona to make sure all kids in our community start the day off with a good meal.

Joe’s is a familiar face at Project Connect, events held throughout the year to provide life-saving resources including employment, health and legal services. Meet Joe and learn why he is a shining example of what it means to Live United.

Marines live to serve our country. On a recent Saturday, they spent the day in 100plus degree heat painting, shoveling, mowing, raking, stirring and pouring concrete as a service project for Marine Week Phoenix (Sept. 10-13).

Getting a solid education starts with students showing up – physically and mentally. Chronic absenteeism is higher among children who live in high poverty areas; which means not all children have the same chance to succeed in school. The good news, it’s a problem we can solve.

A team from Wells Fargo recently “walked a mile” in the shoes of Valley individuals and families who struggle daily with making ends meet. Here’s a look at their journey.

Amy Schwabenlender, Vice President of Community Impact for Valley of the Sun United Way, recently attended by special invitation a White House summit of federal government, corporate and private foundation, and non-profit leaders engaged in the work of ending veteran homelessness. For Amy, the discussion proved that the strategic initiatives successfully employed in our community to end chronic homelessness among our veteran population, can and should be applied to ending homelessness for everyone in the Valley.

By age 11, Anthony Arellanes had a criminal record for vandalizing his elementary school. A year later, he was seen tossing a chemical bomb into a bathroom at a Boys and Girls Club.
“I was on a bad path,” Anthony recalls, more than 20 years later. His path began in South Central Los Angeles where his father was well-known in both criminal and law enforcement circles as one of the biggest heroin dealers in the area.
