By Zak Wagner

SWM seeking tall, middle-aged female companion who enjoys running, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Ideally, she would have dark hair and be low maintenance. A happy disposition is a must. She must like cats and kids, as I have both. A few missing teeth is fine, but otherwise healthy with no serious ongoing medical conditions is preferable. Also, while I don’t mind having to do some training, I do have brand-new carpet, so she must be housebroken at least.

You’ve probably guessed that this isn’t a lonely gentleman looking for female human companionship. He is, however, looking for a happy lifelong relationship. This hypothetical ad covers many of the things that RESCUE (Reducing Euthanasia at Shelters through Commitment and Underlying Education) looks for in placing one of their rescued pets with a new family. The organization is serious about their matchmaking process, and with good reason. Many people see the cute doggie or kitty in a picture or at a shelter and just have to have it—at least until they get the animal home and it pees on the new carpet or chews up the favorite shoes. Suddenly, they realize they hadn’t bargained for some of the issues that owning pets involves, and so the animal goes right back where it started, in another shelter or possibly left on the street to a sadder fate.

The matchmaking service helps to eliminate some of these issues by matching you with an animal in need of a good home that also fits into your lifestyle and matches your requirements. RESCUE’s three-step matchmaking process is a key to their low return rate. First, you fill out the matchmaker form, which is then assessed by one of their matchmakers. Next, someone will call you to follow up and go over with you what animals are available that match what you are looking for. Finally, you will have a face-to-face meeting. If at this point they don’t have the perfect match for you, they now have your criteria, and with their constant stream of rescues will most likely have exactly what you want within a few weeks.

Many of the dogs and cats helped by RESCUE have been previously considered unadoptable, a classification which can be something as simple as a broken tooth or as severe as a serious health or behavior issue. However, the staff at RESCUE has found that most of them just need a second chance at life with a loving family. In fact, RESCUE has saved over 9,000 cats and dogs from being put to death in pounds and shelters across Maricopa County since 1995. Their unique matching service has resulted in a low 8 percent return rate of their adopted animals, compared with the average of around 50 percent.

RESCUE is Maricopa County’s largest no-kill animal rescue organization, which is made more remarkable by the fact that it is a “virtual” shelter with no facilities of its own. The animals they rescue are kept either by one of 400 foster families or by friendly participating veterinarians. While this has been a highly successful method, it severely limits RESCUE’s ability to save even larger numbers of animals that are condemned to death every day at various pounds. They are now working to change all of that with exciting plans for their very own facility. This will enable them to save thousands more of these wonderful pets, as well as to help them to become financially self-sustaining—a crucial component, as their veterinary bills alone run into the tens of thousands every month. So far, RESCUE has raised $100,000 of the $500,000 price tag. The help of individuals and the community is key to reaching their goal.

If you are in search of that special one to complete your household and add a little extra touch of companionship and love, RESCUE can help you find the perfect match.

To learn more about donating to AZ RESCUE or if you’re looking for that special someone, contact the organization at donate@azrescue.org or visit their Web site at azrescue.org.

By Kevin Madness

October is national Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a time for the public to focus attention on a pervasive and often deadly crime and also a call for battered women to break their silence. It is a month for everyone to work in support of safety for abuse victims nationwide.

This year, women in the Valley can lend their support in style by participating in the Girls Night Out To Cut Out Domestic Abuse annual fund-raiser, a night of manicures, pedicures, shopping, and fine foods. All money earned will benefit domestic abuse prevention resources.

The event’s organizer is no stranger to the pain associated with intimate partner abuse. Throughout high school and college, Pennsylvania native Donna Bartos was slapped, punched, and verbally degraded by her boyfriend. The years of terror culminated in 1993— Bartos’s boyfriend smashed her head into a concrete floor, and that was the final act that gave her the courage to end the relationship. However, she still needed to find the inner strength to speak out against her batterer.

“The embarrassment and fear of what people would think kept me silent until the summer of 2006,” Bartos says.

When Bartos attended a seminar for domestic violence education, she realized she was a silent victim and felt compelled to do something to stop the epidemic of abuse. From that day on, she was silent no more. She had previous experience in fund-raising, and she used it to create her own volunteer organization, the Purple Ribbon Council, and began planning the Girls Night Out events.

Girls Night Out takes place the first Thursday of October. The event’s goal is to build mass public awareness about domestic violence and domestic homicide—this means mobilizing victims and survivors to speak up, restore hope, and save lives. Since the first event in October, 2006, Girls Night Out has been set up in eight other states. Last year, a combined total of $50,000 was raised. By 2010, Bartos hopes to have a Girls Night Out event in every state and collect one million dollars annually.

Domestic violence is a national epidemic, and Girls Night Out is particularly essential in Arizona. The state ranks second in the number of women killed by men, according to the Governor’s Division for Women. The Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence reports that there were 101 domestic violence-related deaths here in 2006. Bartos says that these numbers can be prevented if friends and family members respond to the signs of domestic abuse before it turns deadly.

The Valley area Girls Night Out will take place on the evening of October 2 at the exquisite Dolce Salon and Spa at Arrowhead. Bartos says that guests can expect an evening of empowerment, complete with salon pampering, including manicures, pedicures, massages and haircuts. There will also be fine foods, entertainment, silent auctions, and shopping, with the proceeds benefiting local safe houses Eve’s Place and Harmony House.

“Safe houses are in constant need of funding,” says Laura Horsley, executive director of Eve’s Place. “There is never enough money for what we need to do.”

Horsley says that the funds raised by this year’s Girls Night Out event will allow them to provide rent and utility payments and other ongoing support for local women and children.

Tickets to Girls Night Out are $30 for the Support level, which includes general admission with refreshments, entertainment, shopping, a chance to win a salon/spa door prize, and more; $60 for the Benefit level adds a manicure; and the Empower level at $90 adds a pedicure, massage, makeup lesson, or hairstyling.

If you ask Donna Bartos why October is a special time of year, she will tell you that there is strength in numbers. When women can come together and raise their collective voice, their message can be heard: “Make every home a safe one.”

For more information about Girls Night Out and the October event, visit girls-night-out.org or e-mail purpleribboncouncil@yahoo.com.

By Shannon Willoby

Michel Herstam and Heather Allen, cofounders of the local Phoenix charity HALO (Helping Animals Live On), are true angels to the countless dogs and cats they save from euthanasia each year. Through HALO, the mother-daughter team rescues animals awaiting euthanasia on “death row” in various shelters and places them with foster “parents” until their forever homes can be found. In 2007 alone, HALO found homes for 603 dogs and 1,697 cats who otherwise may have never been given the chance to live.

HALO is a no-kill nonprofit animal organization that Herstam and Allen cofounded in 1994 after they had been cat foster parents for Kitty Love, another animal organization. They saw firsthand just how many homeless animals there were, how few foster homes were available to them, and what their grave fate would eventually be. As a result, HALO Animal Rescue was formed. The two women began fostering animals in their own homes and working closely with local animal organizations to provide the public with low-cost or free spay-and-neuter opportunities.

Many of the HALO team’s good works are funded out of their own pockets. On any given week, HALO cats and kittens are housed in adoption centers at seven different PetSmart locations and one Petco. Every weekend, Herstam gives up her free time to bring some of HALO’s rescued dogs and cats to the PetSmart at Seventh Avenue and Bell in the hope of finding them loving families. To make sure that pets go to a responsible home, a member of HALO will talk with the family members to ensure that the match will be a perfect one for both the animal and the new owners. And, of course, no animal leaves HALO without first being spayed or neutered and microchipped.

To help fund their work, HALO opened a volunteer-run thrift boutique in 2006 where 100 percent of the profits go to the organization’s animal rescue efforts. HALO is always accepting donations of quality home furnishings, jewelry, shoes, clothing, and home accessories. If you feel something rubbing against your legs while you’re browsing the racks, it’s just Mister and Basil, the boutique’s rescues-in-residence, happily visiting with customers while they shop.

Although Mister and Basil are content to live at the boutique until their permanent homes are found, many other animals aren’t as lucky. In this spirit, HALO is getting closer to making their dream of opening a no-kill shelter a reality, as they have purchased a 1,000-square-foot building in Phoenix. They estimate that it will cost $400,000 to get the shelter up and running, and they have currently raised $25,000. HALO is in desperate need of cash donations, supplies, and labor that will go toward creating a safe place for unwanted pets to live until they can be adopted. Allen sees an overwhelming and undeniable need for such a place. “Between April 6 and April 12, 875 cats and dogs were euthanized at two shelters in Maricopa County,” she says, sadly.

Even more necessary than the need for a no-kill shelter is responsibility on the part of pet owners and animal lovers. Allen urges the public to spay and neuter not only their own pets, but also any homeless animals they may be feeding. This will help stop the flood of animals coming into shelters. Help is available through HALO to anyone who is unable to get their pets spayed and neutered because of financial reasons.

An unwavering passion drove Herstam and Allen to use their own money, turn their homes into shelters for animals, and give up their free time to establish HALO Animal Rescue, but they wouldn’t have it any other way. Allen says that she and her mother have the same goal: to save as many animals as they can in any way possible, and as far as their resources will go. “We do a phenomenal job using the funds that we have, but we can all do so much more with more hands and money,” Allen says.

If you would like to donate your time or dollars to HALO Animal Rescue, please contact HALO at (602) 971-9222 or visit halorescue.org.

HALO Thrift Boutique is located at 4630 N. Seventh Ave. in Phoenix. Call (602) 274-3444 for information.

By Lee Nelson

For twenty-four hours, Angie Simon experienced firsthand the difficult life of an impoverished African woman. She slept the night in a cramped mud hut with seventeen family members. She worked hard in the fields planting potatoes and walked three miles to the community water well, and then found enough energy to haul heavy buckets back home.

Simon is the director of development and communications for Hope 4 Kids International. “The physical aspects of what they have to do to just survive are amazing, but then you have to add in the layer of life that every member of this family is living with AIDS,” she says.

Hope 4 Kids, headquartered in Phoenix, makes a minimum five-year commitment to these poverty-stricken countries. The time is spent educating residents and enabling them to become self-sufficient economically and spiritually.

Hope 4 Kids is a not-for-profit Christian-based organization that had a humble beginning in the form of one man’s quest to smuggle aid behind the Iron Curtain in Russia. Tom Eggum spent his youth in Iowa as a troubled teen. His strict home life brought out his rebellious side. After the police arrested Eggum for toting a sawed-off shotgun, the department decided to give him a second chance. That pivotal moment changed his attitude and steered him toward helping the destitute.

Eggum made eight successful trips with suitcases of Bibles, medicine, clothes, and other things into the Soviet Union. In 1981, the KGB arrested him, revoked his visa, and sent him away. Undaunted, Eggum began his journeys of assistance to China and Vietnam.

His organization now leads teams of volunteers on two-week missions into villages devastated by poverty and disease. They help restore dignity to children by establishing feeding programs, providing medicine, launching vocational ministries, and digging water wells to help the entire community. The volunteers—who pay up to $4,000 for their own trip—help build hospitals and medical clinics, give out toys, teach work skills, and nurture abandoned and sick children.

“It’s always life-changing for the volunteers,” Simon says. “They catch a passion on these trips. They begin helping out in their own communities, or they come back with us every year.”

Sponsorship for orphans may be done through the organization for $26 per month. Corporations or individuals also can fund the transformation of an entire African village for about $28,000. This pays for construction of a church, medical clinic, and more. One hundred percent of all donations go directly to the projects designated to receive them. Administration costs come from Eggum’s speaking engagements and church sponsorships. Help 4 Kids recently hosted a Charity Poker Tournament at Piñata Nueva in Anthem to raise needed funds.

Since its founding thirty-five years ago, Hope 4 Kids has assisted children in 96 countries. Presently, Hope 4 Kids serves impoverished children in Uganda, Peru, Romania, and Russia, bringing them the basic needs for their survival and, it is hoped, for a long and happy future.

For more information, visit hope4kidsinternational.org or call (602) 979-5516.

PHOENIX ADVOCATE EMPOWERS WOMEN TO TAKE RESPONSIBILTY FOR THEIR HEALTH

By Leona Christensen
In all her years of community volunteer work, motherhood and marriage, Phoenix resident Michelle Robson never dreamed that she would become a women’s health care advocate. Having battled her own health ordeal, she knew that someone had to stand up for women’s health care and speak up for women who are too besieged by the fog of illness and confusion to speak for themselves. So she asked herself, “Why not me?”

Three years ago, Robson underwent a complete hysterectomy, which culminated in a devastating health experience. For the first time in her life, the vibrant, active woman struggled to get out of bed in the morning. She sought out the top physicians in the country and explored the Internet for science-based information that would explain her illness or offer solutions. There was nothing to be found anywhere.

“It was a matter of survival,” says Robson. “Everywhere I looked, I couldn’t find answers to my health questions. It seemed there was no one who could help me. I had to educate myself about health and act as my own advocate. Out of necessity, I became a health care advocate so that no other woman would suffer like me.”

Robson cites a glaring lack of clinical trials for women, making it nearly impossible to find gender-specific health information and leading to distress and anxiety among women. This month, Robson is test-launching EmpowHer.com, a social media networking Web site for women’s health. EmpowHer.com provides the best in health information and resources and gives women a place to share their personal health ordeals. The new site, she says, is a place where women can find the answers that elude them, and connect with other women who understand what they are going through.

“It’s truth-to-truth discussions about issues [that] women just don’t know where to turn to talk about,” Robson says. “It’s like MySpace for women’s health care.”

Presently, the site focuses on what Robson calls the “big six.” These topics are the initial six areas that Robson wants to drill down on and provide as much information about and resources for as possible. These health concerns include menopause, osteoporosis, heart disease, postpartum depression, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and thyroid disorders. The Web site content will continue to add topics, with the goal of addressing every topic relating specifically to women’s health.

“It’s time for women take responsibility for their health,” Robson says. “We have been passive for far too long and allowed others to think for us and to make decisions about our health. Before, women did not have the information they needed. Now, we do.”

Think of it as Women’s Health Care 101. EmpowHer.com provides objective information and shares facts that women can share with their physicians. Additionally, EmpowHer.com arms women with the tools they need to act as advocates for their own and their loved ones’ health.

“EmpowHer.com takes a girlfriend-to-girlfriend approach to health care,” says Robson, who personally answers each e-mail and correspondence. “You may think you are alone and no one understands your suffering. All you need to do is log on to EmpowHer.com to find that, yes, there are answers to your questions and [there is] someone who understands your plight because she is going through it, too.”

For more information, visit EmpowHer.com.

By Paige Perry

In a day and age when people openly discuss their own fights with cancer, relatives’ battles with Alzheimer’s disease, or their children’s struggles with a learning disability, it is a surprise that a disease that afflicts one percent of the population—at least 3 million people—remains in the shadows. Epilepsy is the most common neurological condition in children and the third-most common in adults. At least 200,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, but many cases go undetected or untreated. Epilepsy is an initially frightening disease, and individuals afflicted with it often feel embarrassed to admit it.

According to the Epilepsy Foundation’s official Web site, epilepsy is a medical condition that produces seizures that affect a variety of mental and physical functions. It is also known as seizure disorder. Epileptic seizures differ from person to person. Some experience convulsions and loss of consciousness, while others stare blankly into space, smack their lips, or experience jerking movements. The inconsistent and varying signs are one reason why so many cases go untreated and undetected.

Luckily, the Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona is becoming more and more visible in the state, encouraging those with epilepsy to get the treatment they need and to share their stories with others.

“I grew up with epilepsy as a teenager,” says Cave Creek resident Michelle Lane. “It wasn’t something you talked about to anyone other than your immediate family or physician. In college, I was out on my own, and I quickly learned that it was advantageous to share my experiences with my new friends. They wanted more and more information, and it helped me to understand my condition in a new way.”

One way in which the Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona encourages people with histories like Michelle’s is inviting them to attend Camp Candlelight. Camp Candlelight is a summer camp for children and teens (ages 8–15) who suffer from epilepsy. The condition is most prevalent in children, and many dread, as Michelle did, that they will be judged by their disease. This camp gives them the chance to participate in outdoor activities with their peers. Camp Candlelight also acts as an educational experience by incorporating discussions on seizures, different medications, and socialization. Campers can express their concerns and feelings to well-trained camp counselors, and an onsite neurologist and nursing staff are readily available for the children’s physical well-being.

The Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona is also educating the community by hosting an “Ask the Expert” series, which are informal question-and-answer sessions with Arizona neurologists from Mayo Clinic, Barrow’s Neurological Institute, and Phoenix Children’s Hospital. These are all open to the public.

Thanks to the foundation, the condition of epilepsy is given proper focus to increase awareness and reduce embarrassment. Once properly treated, individuals with epilepsy go on to lead productive lives, without fearing seizures. Truman Capote, Margaux Hemingway, Agatha Christie, and Danny Glover are just a few of the examples of high-profile people who did not or do not allow epilepsy to control their lives. Michelle Lane, who owns a home, gift, and accessories store, will not let the disease consume her life either. And with the help and support of groups like the Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona, no one else need allow epilepsy to take over theirs.

The Second Annual Mardi Gras Gala benefiting the Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona will be held Tuesday, February 5 at The Venue of Scottsdale. More information on the foundation can be found at epilepsyfoundation.org/arizona.

By David Wilkening
Photos courtesy of The Diamondbacks
Going to an Arcadia Little League game to see his 11-year-old son, Cal, play second base (good fielder, good hitter, all-around solid player) can be an added incentive for E.G. (Ken) Kendrick: Kendrick’s company may have financed and built the playing field.

Kendrick is managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks and a longtime baseball fan. He is also chairman of the team’s foundation, which has built or refurbished 26 baseball fields as part of their “Diamonds Back” Youth Field Building Program.

In September, the foundation unveiled an ambitious four-field cluster that is a first in the state.

“The Complex in the North Valley has something no other youth complex in Arizona has: TotTurf,” says Ashley Engler, a senior account executive with the Lavidge Company, which represents the D-Backs. “It literally levels the playing field for children who use wheelchairs or walkers.”

The playing surface for two of the fields is regulation Little League. But the other two fields are adapted for disabled young players. They are somewhat smaller than a regulation field, and their playing surface is made entirely of TotTurf, a rubber material that is more forgiving and conducive to wheelchair and walker use.

“We have quite a few people in our valley who are wheelchair bound and play baseball,” says Kendrick. Prior to the introduction of these fields, young athletes who use wheelchairs or walkers had to struggle to navigate the dirt and grass fields, or not play at all.

The intent of the complex, Kendrick says, is for disabled children to have a safe place to play. The new fields are also designed to encourage children with and without disabilities to play together and learn more about one another’s lives.

Typically, ball fields built by the major league baseball team in conjunction with other organizations cost about $300,000. But these four fields are an investment of upward of $3 million. “This was a much more expensive proposition, in part because we had a lot of extra things, like concessions,” Kendrick says, explaining that the additional components are necessary for hosting national tournaments.

The new complex is a real team effort that involves contributions from everyone from the U.S. government to individual players. Several organizations have already committed to using the complex. They include Special Olympics Arizona, the Mesa Association of Sports for the Disabled (MASD), the Life Challenge, and the Valley of the Sun School and Habilitation Center. Other partners who helped fund the complex either through contributions or in-kind support included the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, who is the actual owner of the land; the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust; the Baseball Tomorrow Fund; Thunderbirds Charities; APS; and Summit Builders.

Kendrick himself is a longtime philanthropist. He believes that his attitude toward charitable causes dates back to growing up in the small West Virginia town of Princeton, where his father was involved in doing charitable work. Perhaps this explains why Kendrick, while working for Datatel shortly after college, started a Datatel Scholars Foundation, which provides college scholarships for students throughout the United States and Canada.

The town’s 10,000 residents, he says, had baseball fever, and Kendrick was a decent player himself. “I even played semipro for a while, but I was certainly not a professional player,” he says. Kendrick never lost this “baseball fever.” As a charter member of the ownership group that brought baseball to Arizona, he became the managing general partner in 2004; he now represents the ownership group in the day-to-day operation, and serves as the team’s representative during the yearly major league baseball owners meeting.

Through the Diamondbacks, Kendrick found a way to combine his love for baseball with his love for charity work. In his work at the Diamondbacks Foundation, Kendrick is part of a thirteen-person board of directors that has donated more than $10 million in the past decade to nonprofit and charitable organizations throughout the state. Funds for the foundation are raised through events such as “Evening on the Diamond” and “Shirts Off Our D-Backs.”

Because the organization operates with no overhead costs, all its funds go directly to benefit community programs. Between 2005 and 2006, the foundation contributed funds to seventy-two charities that included Helping Hands, Housing Services, and the West Valley Child Crisis Center.

It’s not all work, however. Kendrick’s seat at the stadium overlooks the team’s dugout, and he said that he goes to quite a few of the games. This year, that number may exceed fifty.

Ken Kendrick’s position with the Diamondbacks has allowed his charity work to also extend beyond the realm of the team. He also owns the Bumble Bee Ranch, which includes more than 74,000 acres for horseback riding, cattle driving, helicopter tours, and overnight facilities. “Ken not only regularly gives dollars but also his time, and he donates his ranch throughout the summer to children’s charities who might not be able to afford overnight camps,” says Engler.

Kendrick is not sure where the next ball field will be built, but he says that there won’t be any slowdown in “Diamonds Back,” which is a priority for the team.

Those who know him say that Kendrick quietly balances his roles as team owner, charitable-giver, successful entrepreneur, father to Cal and Catie (and husband to wife Randy), and hard-core baseball fan. However, he does admit to one small irritant in his life: his son’s little league teams are all named after major league teams, and the youngster plays for the “Chicago Cubs.”

“Sometimes, it’s pretty hard to live with,” Kendrick says.

By Leona June Christensen
Photos courtesy of UMOM New Day Center

Numbering yourself among the homeless may be only two paychecks away.

“A lion’s share of our population is in a precarious position,” says Jacki Taylor, executive director of the Phoenix-based Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness (AZCEH).

An alarming number of families in the North Valley and across America are living paycheck to paycheck without a safety net. A twist of the unexpected—an illness or loss of employment—may be all it takes for that family to join the ranks of millions of Americans who struggle to survive without shelter.

“About 60 percent of the households in Maricopa County are literally two paychecks away from being homeless,” Taylor says. “The disparity between the cost of living and the increase in wages has continued to grow. Wages have not kept pace with the cost of living. We know the gap between those who have and those who have not continues to grow significantly. Poverty is on the rise, so that’s a very scary statistic.”

According to the AZCEH, the annual “Point-in-Time Street Count” calculated 14,960 homeless people in Arizona, including 7,300 homeless people in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Among those counted, 56 percent were living in shelters or transitional housing, with the remaining 44 percent living on the streets or otherwise unsheltered. About 18–24 percent of them are veterans.

About 41 percent of Arizona homeless are families with children. These children are twice as likely to go hungry as are their peers. The National Alliance to End Homelessness reports domestic violence as one of the most frequent causes of homelessness for families.

While there are no easy answers, the AZCEH says the solution to end homelessness is everyone’s responsibility. From politics to compassion, each person can be part of the answer to one of the community’s most heartbreaking problems.

“The first challenge is changing political will,” Taylor says. “It’s only through the voter constituents that we can impact our legislators. Once we start influencing policy and funding, we decide as a state that affordable housing is a priority for all people, even the chronically homeless that are mentally ill or substance abusers. The second is doing your part, whether that is supporting legislation that moves toward the end of homelessness, advocacy, donating money and getting involved in fund-raising for affordable housing or shelter services.”

The nonprofit organization helps ease the homeless crisis throughout Arizona by supporting the efforts of local communities to provide social services and shelter to men, women, and children, and to increase awareness of the plight, as well as support advocacy.

A vigilant watchdog, the coalition works tirelessly to help pass legislation that would help relieve the conditions that cause homelessness, keep track of bills that other organizations are trying to pass, and monitor the impact of those bills.

“[Acting as] watchdog is watching for those things that may sneak up on us,” Taylor says. “If you are not really watching what is happening at the Legislature, you are never going to know that strikers are happening.”

Strikers are bills in which language is struck and then replaced with new verbiage that may differ from its original intent. During the previous legislative session, there was an unexpected introduction of a striker that the AZCEH learned was being introduced to dissolve statewide homeless trust funds. The advocacy group was able to draw awareness among its statewide members that the striker was in progress. Thanks to their timely intervention, each organization serving homelessness received financial support rather than one group garnering another’s share of funding.

“The legislative process is cumbersome, complex, and very time-consuming,” Taylor says. “Most of our members who have a concern about what is going on at the Legislature are so involved in providing direct service to homeless people that they don’t have time to monitor what is going on. The AZCEH is there to raise the red flag when it needs to be raised, and say that we need your voice now.”

During the 2007 legislative session, the Coalition advocated for an increase in funding to the Department of Economic Security homeless line item. Those funds had not been increased in more than a decade.

“The Legislature, at the end of the day, approved the allocation of up to [a] $1 million increase in that funding,” Taylor says. “The funding doubled. That was a positive outcome, very much a win for homelessness. It was wonderful! We [still] need to do more.”

Each year, the Arizona Coalition to End Homelessness hosts a conference that educates attendees on the issues that surround homelessness. The fourteenth annual conference, “Weaving the Community Web,” is slated for October 15–16, at the Black Canyon Conference Center located at 9440 N. 25th Ave. in Phoenix. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.

“To end homelessness, every segment of the community needs to pull together and be involved—individuals, the business sector, the faith community, nonprofits, and government,” Taylor says. “We all need to join hands, if truly we want to end this phenomenon in our state.”

This year’s keynote speaker highlights Denver’s Road Home, a ten-year plan to end homelessness. By uniting the community, Denver has generated 500 affordable-housing units within two years and decreased the number of homeless families by that number.

“Denver is proving that housing and support services are the key,” said Taylor. “Support services help individuals and families stabilize long-term to sustain their self sufficiency. Their success phenomenally excites us. We can learn a lot.”

Despite staggering statistics, Taylor remains optimistic.

“I believe we can end homelessness,” says Taylor. “We have the capacity to address the needs of every homeless person in our state, if we have the political will. One of the first big hurdles is for each Arizonian to truly embrace in their heart the belief that homelessness is not acceptable for any person in our state.”

For more information to help end homelessness, or to attend the conference, log on to azceh.org.

Arizona Foundation for Women Honorees

By Leona June Christensen

First Lady Laura Bush

First Lady Laura Bush is living testament that the doors for learning are always open. In America and across the globe, the former school librarian’s ardent love of books inspires women and children to expand their horizons with reading.

In late May, Arizona Foundation for Women (AFW) honored Mrs. Bush with the Sandra Day O’Connor Award for her contributions to children and literacy. As a little girl, Mrs. Bush’s zeal for reading was sparked by an early introduction by her mother to books at the local public library. Since that time, she dreamed of becoming a teacher. Now, she has made her love of books the key message point of her mission to promote literacy. She with a bachelor’s degree in education from Southern Methodist University, and received her master’s degree in library science from the University of Texas at Austin. She achieved her dream of becoming a teacher in the Texas public school system, where she also worked as a librarian.

AFW acknowledges that reading is the key to success and prosperity for women and girls. Few others have worked as tirelessly as the First Lady to ignite a passion for learning and books in the hearts of people at home and abroad.

AFW hosted the eleventh annual Sandra Day O’Connor Awards Luncheon on Friday, May 25 at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa in Phoenix. Each year, the organization honors the lives and contributions of women who are inspiring role models. Previous recipients are Elizabeth H. Dole, Tipper Gore, Marian Wright Edelman, Erin Brockovich, Barbara Bush, Sally Ride, Pat Mitchell, and Marlo Thomas.

Last year, the event raised more than $400,000, adding to the almost $2 million since its inception, to finance AFW’s philanthropic efforts to provide innovative solutions for the unmet needs of women and children in Arizona. The organization’s unique programs enhance self-esteem and promote economic self-sufficiency among young women, as well as implement distinctive solutions to problems like child abuse and domestic violence. It has helped more than 1 million Arizona residents.

Mrs. Bush fights on the frontlines in the United States and across the world to promote education, health care, and human rights. As First Lady, her voice calls attention to the global needs of schools, libraries, and teachers. She made more than a dozen visits to the areas left devastated by the Gulf Coast hurricanes. Her philanthropic organization, the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries, implemented the Gulf Coast School Library Recovery Initiative.

In her work as an honorary ambassador for the United Nations Literacy Decade, Mrs. Bush is an outspoken advocate for education throughout the world. Her efforts especially benefit women and girls. She travels the country as the leader of President Bush’s Helping America’s Youth initiative and visits mentoring programs, listening to the concerns of youth, their parents, and community leaders as well as highlighting programs that help young people become self-sufficient and productive adults.

Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet

The luncheon also paid tribute to Elizabeth Lee Vliet, M.D who received the Voice of Women Award, and MonaLou Callery who was presented with the Marilyn R. Seymann Award.

For women struggling with hormonal issues, Dr. Vliet is a shelter in the storm. She is the founder and medical director for HER Place: Health Enhancement and Renewal for Women, Inc. Her Tucson- and Dallas-based clinics focus on comprehensive evaluations of hormonal changes and how they affect the physical and emotional aspects of women’s lives.

Dr. Vliet is constantly researching solution and options for women facing the effects of hormonal changes in cardiovascular risks, Premenstrual Syndrome, PCOS, migraines, mood syndromes, fibromyalgia/chronic pain, anxiety phenomena, osteoporosis, and urinary problems.

A prolific author, Dr. Vliet’s acclaimed books about women’s health include Screaming to Be Heard: Hormonal Connections Women Suspect—and Doctors Ignore, Women, Weight and Hormones; It’s My Ovaries, Stupid! The Savvy Woman’s Guide to Testosterone, and The Savvy Woman’s Guide to PCOS. Her newest book, The Savvy Woman’s Guide to Estrogen, is slated for release later this year.

Dr. Vliet earned her medical degree and completed her internship in internal medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School. She then completed training in psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Vliet received her B.S. and M.Ed. degrees from the College of William and Mary.

MonaLou Callery

For survivors of domestic violence, MonaLou Callery is a voice of empowerment. She is also someone who has lived their pain. When she first began advocating for victims of domestic violence more than 25 years ago, it was out of necessity to survive the effects of domestic abuse, and not as a career choice. Since that time, she has been instrumental in developing domestic violence programs in the public, private, and international sectors, including several shelters.

Founded by Callery in 2003, the Support, Education, Empowerment & Directions (SEEDs) caters to the unmet needs of women who have been physically and sexually abused. The SEEDs program accommodates women who would not be eligible for traditional battered-women’s shelters because of their alcohol and drug dependencies. Many of these women use substances to cope with the aftermath of their abuse and relationship with their batterer.

The program offers women a strong support system to help them overcome barriers and reach their personal goals. During their transition from SEEDs to independent living, residents develop and execute a life-action plan while completing job training, maintaining their sobriety and rebuilding their lives

Callery’s program can help up to 16 women at one time. SEED also provides counseling and educational services for the women. The National Advocacy & Training Network (NATN), a nonprofit organization Callery started to offer opportunities to social services providers working with at-risk populations, supervises SEEDs.

North Valley Magazine will include photos from the Sandra Day O’Connor Awards Luncheon in the August/September issue.

For more information about Arizona Foundation for Women, log on to www.azfoundationforwomen.org.