This year, Legacy Connection plans to sponsor more than 20,000 K–8th grade students from local Maricopa County schools so they can start school confident and ready to learn. But the staggering fact is that one in four Arizona children lives in poverty, severely impacting his or her ability to learn and succeed in school.

Yes, we are proud of the Legacy Backpack Buddies Project accomplishments. However, the need for the children in our community is significant.

We need your help today!

Use some of your tax refund to help Arizona’s children. By making an early contribution to Legacy Connection, which qualifies under the Arizona Charitable Organization Tax Credit, your eligible donation will be directly credited against your Arizona taxes (up to $400 if filing a joint return; $200 if single). That’s a dollar-for-dollar tax credit, plus it’s deductible.

Your donation will help serve students at one of our Back to School Clothing Drive distribution events in 2015. As an affiliate organization of BHHS Legacy Foundation, Legacy Connection contributions will be matched by the Foundation, which means even more children living in poverty will receive the back-to-school items they need.

Thousands of kids in our community need support. By making a donation today, you’re not only transforming a child’s life, you’re improving Arizona’s future.

Just a portion of your tax refund can make a big difference.

Please make your gift to Legacy Connection today. Thank you!

The BHHS Legacy 2012-2013 Community Funding Report, Creating Pathways for Good Health is now available for viewing. Download the Report now and read more about our efforts to improve the lives and health of the communities we serve.

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Mark your calendar for Wed., April 9 for Arizona Gives Day, a statewide, 24-hour online giving campaign! Hosted by the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits and the Arizona Grantmakers Forum, Arizona Gives Day provides an inspiring way for Arizonans to join forces to make a profound difference in their communities. Twitter, Facebook and other social media vehicles will be abuzz for 24 hours as hundreds of non-profits statewide attempt to connect with donors who are passionate about their cause. Last year, Arizona Gives Day raised $928,541 through more than 11,000 donations!

BHHS Legacy Foundation is proud to be a sponsor and part of the statewide steering committee for this important event. Join us as we work to raise even more funds this year! Simply select the nonprofit of your choice and donate confidently knowing that your donation goes directly to that nonprofit (not into a general fund). And, if you’d like to plan ahead, you can even schedule your donation.

BHHS Legacy Foundation has opened Legacy Place, a unique nonprofit center in downtown Phoenix with six nonprofit agencies dedicated to improving the health and quality of life of disadvantaged Arizonans. Space remains available for a few more tenants.

Located at 360 E. Coronado Road, the building project was initiated by the BHHS Legacy Foundation Board and its CEO, Gerald Wissink. Legacy Foundation enlisted the help of Lee & Associates, McCarthy Nordburg Architectural Interior Design and Wespac Construction to purchase and renovate the building, which was substantially completed in January.

“We’re very excited about the synergistic relationships we are creating with our tenants,” Wissink said. “We encourage other nonprofits with similar healthcare missions to tour our building and join us.”

Current tenants include Legacy Foundation, Legacy Connection, Experience Matters, ALS Association Arizona Chapter, National Kidney Foundation of Arizona, and Mission of Mercy. An additional remaining 3,300 square feet is available for lease.

A grand-opening event is being planned for March 26. Healthcare-focused nonprofit organizations interested in learning more about leasing space at Legacy Place should call (602) 778-1200 or Andrew Cheney at Lee & Associates at (602) 954-3769. To learn more about Legacy Foundation and Legacy Connection, visit www.bhhslegacy.org.

In 2013, BHHS Legacy Foundation awarded nearly $5.3 million to more than 100 Arizona nonprofits to support health and health-related programs benefiting Arizona children, families and seniors. Grant awards ranged from $1,000 to $550,000.

Of the more than $5 million awarded in 2013, nearly $1.7 million was granted to nonprofit organizations in the Tri-State region. The balance of $3.6 million was awarded to nonprofit organizations in the Greater Phoenix region.

An additional $352,000 was raised by individual community donors to Legacy Connection, the Foundation’s fundraising affiliate. One hundred percent of those funds raised through Legacy Connection are passed through to organizations serving essential needs and services to primarily underserved children in our community. .
The Foundation’s 2013 community grant funding awards supported community programs and projects that improved access to healthcare ($1,664,749), improved community health through prevention and education ($568,800), expanded Arizona’s healthcare workforce ($409,950), and strengthened and supported community efforts ($2,657,507). Click here for a complete list of grants awarded.

Why should parents of the small desert community of Topock have to drive their kids 30 to 45 minutes to Needles or Lake Havasu City to play? And what about parents who don’t have transportation – where do their children play?

Those were the questions two moms from the area, Rebecca Vaughn and Autumn Boyle-Robinson, asked the community when they co-founded Project Playground a year ago. Their goal was simple: to build a playground near Topock Elementary School. The challenge: to raise $80,000 to make their dream come true.

Fundraising efforts started with a $15,000 grant from Kaboom!, a national organization that helps create new playgrounds for kids, and it appeared that the dedicated moms and community supporters were on a three-year track to raise funds and complete the project. That is, until BHHS Legacy Foundation provided a $53,333 grant to push the project forward so that the playground could be completed by late November of this year.

A special groundbreaking ceremony took place on Sept. 24 near Topock Elementary School where Vaughn and Boyle-Robinson also unveiled the park’s design and its new name, “Topock’s Totally Terrific Playground.”

From school-based health clinics to vision screening in Title I schools, BHHS Legacy Foundation is supporting projects that make a significant difference in the lives of children. In keeping with our philosophy that improved healthcare takes many forms, the Foundation and our affiliates awarded mid-year grants to 52 nonprofit organizations throughout Phoenix and the tri-state region. More than $2 million in support was granted to health-related projects and services in the greater Phoenix area, while just over $1 million was awarded to programs in the tri-state region surrounding Bullhead City, AZ; Needles, CA and Laughlin, NV. Grants ranged from $1,000 to over $400,000 and will help to provide a wide variety of needed services, including back-to-school clothes and supplies, senior nutrition, health career education and medical/dental services for children of low-income families.

Now in our 12th year, the BHHS Legacy Foundation and our affiliates have granted over $60 million toward improving access to healthcare, community health programs and healthcare workforce development. Every year, we seek out innovative projects, programs and organizations whose mission is to enhance the health and quality of life of the underserved in our focus communities. By supporting these efforts, we leverage our limited funding resources to provide better, affordable, more complete healthcare services to a larger number of people in need.

The school year was kicked off right for hundreds of underprivileged children when the Operation School Bell bus made a visit to their schools, bringing clothes, shoes, backpacks and hygiene items. More importantly, the bus brought hope to an underserved population, many of whom are beneath the poverty line or homeless. The Arizona Diamondbacks, Assistance League of Phoenix and Legacy Foundation teamed up to purchase, wrap, retrofit and stock an old city bus, turning it into a mobile dressing room, complete with private changing rooms, a sewing area to alter clothes and stocks of complete school uniforms, adidas shoes, school supplies, backpacks and basic hygiene items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo, hairbrushes and the like.

The bus’s first stop at Children First Academy served more than 300 students, who each took home two uniforms, tailored perfectly for each child. The gifts were made possible through a grant from the Arizona Diamondbacks for the bus, and funds from the Assistance League which were matched by The Legacy Foundation, who coordinated the purchase and distribution of the clothes and sundry items.

Click here for a Fox 10 segment of the first visit. The Operation School Bell bus went on to visit XX schools last month, delivering much needed clothing and supplies to more than XXX children.