Giving Appreciation Through Arizona Gives Day

Guest blog by Hillary Lorsch

My senior year of high school I volunteered with Swift’s After School program. Swift After School is one of my favorite programs because the students who get to hang out with Swift After School, earned it. To be able to attend Swift After School, students spend extra time on their academic studies through the PVUSD 21st Century CCLC “After The Bell” program. Rather than going home directly after school with the possibility of no parents at home or nothing to do, Swift offers an opportunity for students to participate in active play and team building activities alongside teen mentors. By the end of my year with Swift After School I knew all of the student’s names and was impacted by each and every one of them.

Leaving for university was extremely hard for me because I wouldn’t be able to support Swift as "hands on" as I’d like. That’s when I really started to work on promoting fundraisers with Swift. I created my first Arizona Gives Day fundraising page during Spring 2016. I had an idea about how much each week of Swift after school cost and decided to use that as a tool for my fundraising goal. Each student receives a snack, we created a new art project, and we needed all the sports equipment we could get. I believe I started with a $100 goal and then decided that this was not enough. My final goal for the 2016 Arizona Gives Day was about $1,000. As I promoted through social media and the donations started flowing in, I gained a new prospective for what Swift is all about. Swift develops mentorship opportunities for more than just the youth served directly by programs like Swift After School. Swift also develops mentorship opportunities between each type of volunteer through the connections made at Swift. The new volunteers have the past counselors to look up to, the counselors have the support staff, the support staff have the ten-year club members to look up to, and every volunteer has the donors to look up to. Although my first Arizona Gives Day fundraising for Swift Youth Foundation was while living in Colorado, I still had the motivation from our Swift volunteers and donors to continue supporting the organization all year round.

Arizona Gives Day is coming up on April 3rd. We are excited to also continue celebrating our dedicated volunteers, generous donors, and supporters of Swift Youth Foundation through the Swift Appreciation Event to be held on April 10th. During the Appreciation Event, Swift recognizes three volunteers who are constantly involved, continue to impact the community, and always take the initiative within their volunteer service. The Swift Appreciation Event is also a time for the organization to simply say “Thank You” to all our past and present volunteers, donors, and supporters of Swift. Now, for what you’ve all been waiting for, the 2018 Swift Appreciation Awardees are (drumroll please...) Don Weintraub, John Owens, and Jake Miller!

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a little about our 2018 Awardees

​​Don Weintraub is a longtime volunteer that continues to demonstrate leadership internally and is an active volunteer during Swift events. Don is a member on Swift’s board and works diligently on ways to financially impact Swift from Facebook Fundraisers in honor of his birthday to taking on personal calls with donors.

John Owens is a Swift Alumni that regularly attends Swift events and demonstrates leadership whenever possible. John works through event logistics and camp organization as well as takes on a counselor role without question. John is always seeking opportunities to serve the organization and others within the organization. 

Jake Miller is a Camp Swift counselor, Team Swift teen, and teen mentor at Swift After School and Swift Saturdays. Jake is a quality mentor year-round within the organization and on the Brophy campus as the founding officer of Club Swift. Jake exemplifies great communication skills and always leads by example within the organization.

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We hope you will join us in congratulating these great volunteers and wish them the best at OHSO Distillery in North Scottsdale from 4pm-7pm for
Swift's 3rd annual Appreciation Event!
​We look forward to celebrating  Don, John, Jake, and  all of our amazing Swift supporters!