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.