The Allstate Foundation Awards $173,500 to Arizona Community Organizations in 2009

PHOENIX, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ — The Allstate Foundation, a charitable organization focused on fostering strong communities, awarded grants totaling $173,500 to Arizona organizations in 2009. The Foundation directly supported seven community organizations that address its focus areas of safe and vital communities, economic empowerment, and tolerance, inclusion, and diversity. The Allstate Foundation also recognized 64 Allstate exclusive agents and personal financial representatives in Arizona with its Agency Hands in the Community award and 12 employees with its Helping Hands award, which direct grants to the organization for which the individual volunteers.

“Allstate is proud to support so many worthwhile causes in Arizona through The Allstate Foundation,” said Denis Bailey, field vice president for Allstate’s Southwest region. “We believe it’s our responsibility and in our best interest to build partnerships to help improve the whole community.”

The Allstate Foundation awarded $35,000 to Junior Achievement of Arizona in Phoenix to host an insurance agency in “JA BizTown,” an authentically simulated business experience. By performing the roles of producers, consumers and entrepreneurs, students in grades five and six from across the state learn first-hand about the economic processes that will affect their futures. Daily in-school lessons lead up to a student’s arrival at JA BizTown, and hands-on activities during an all-day session in the simulated community enables students to make the connection between hard work and success. The company also coordinated an employee volunteer program with Junior Achievement, enabling 27 greater Phoenix employees to teach classes for a day at Morris K. Udall School in south Phoenix.

Additional grants include:

• $10,000 to the Arizona Council on Economic Education in Scottsdale to expand its Personal Finance, Entrepreneurship and Money Management Program to K-12 students across the state of Arizona, teaching students how to apply cost-benefit analysis and opportunity cost to everyday decisions; make informed spending, credit and saving decisions; invest in their own human capital; and make smart choices about safety;
• $30,000 to Chicanos Por La Causa in Phoenix to support the Financial Literacy Program at its Carl Hayden Community Center and De Colores Domestic Violence Center that teaches lessons regarding basic financial skills for self-sufficiency;
• $15,000 to Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse in Tucson for the Making It Better and Children’s Domestic Abuse Programs, focused on teaching social and emotional skills for violence prevention;
• $10,000 to Gabriel’s Angels in Mesa for its program to recruit, train and place pet therapy teams to deliver healing pet therapy to abused, neglected and at-risk youth;
• $5,000 to HandsOn Greater Phoenix’s Disaster Response Corps to screen, train and engage volunteers throughout Central and Northern Arizona in service for communities in crisis; and
• $30,000 to Health World of Scottsdale to deliver the Drive It Right teen safe driving curriculum – developed by Discovery Education and The Allstate Foundation – to high schools across central Arizona.

Agency Hands in the Community

The Allstate Agency Hands in the Community grant program recognizes exclusive agents and personal financial representatives for outstanding commitment to community service with a $500 donation to the charitable organizations for which they volunteer. To qualify for a grant, agencies must show evidence of volunteer work that has had a positive impact on the local community. This year’s recipients include:

• Apache Junction agent Dusty Sample for the Apache Junction Police Department;
• Buckeye agent Shirley Youngker for Liberty Elementary School;
• Casa Grande agent Kara Guidotti for the Casa Grande Rotary Foundation;
• Chandler agents Tim Propps for Muscular Dystrophy Association, Derrick Stinson for the Governors Commission On Service and Volunteerism, Tim Bogaert for Sojourner Center, Robert Gallego for Superior Food Bank, and Chad Schaub for Sharing Down Syndrome Arizona;
• Flagstaff agents Merrie Bigelow for Bothands Inc., Beth Soucie for Flagstaff Unified School District Teenage Parent Program, Becky Halstead for Manuel Demiguel Elementary School, and Noah Stalvey for Flagstaff Leadership Program;
• Fountain Hills agent John Clarkson for the Branden Lombardi Foundation;
• Gilbert agents Christine Mcalister for Future for Kids and Katie Rudd for Open Arms Care Center;
• Glendale agents Karen Befus for Arizona State University Foundation, Stephen Wingenfeld for West Valley Child Crisis Center Inc, and Gary Jahneke for Washington Education Foundation;
• Green Valley agent Brad Balmer for South Bend Table Tennis Center Inc.;
• Kingman agent Angie Weese for the Boys & Girls Club of Kingman;
• Laveen agent Carmen Pettet for the Laveen Lions;
• Maricopa agent Minerva Hendrix for Southwest District Kiwanis Foundation;
• Mesa agents Andrew Poelman for Sirrine Adult Day Health Services, John Kennedy for Mesa Community Action Network Inc., Norma Zamora for Kino Junior High School, and Sheryl Pepas for Against All Odds;
• Peoria agent Shelley Grandidge for Feed My People Children’s Charities Inc.;
• Phoenix agents Wayne Hemphill for Academy of Excellence, Dean Randall for Thunderbirds Junior Golf Foundation, Erica White for Crown King Historical Society, Stephanie LaSalle for McDowell Mountain Little League, Doug Bell for Cactus Little League, and Russ George for Arizona Animal Welfare League;
• Prescott agents Jack Mattox for Yavapai County Jeep Posse and John Ravnik for Central Yavapai Fire Department;
• Rio Rico agent Marcos Bustamante for Rio Rico Chamber Of Commerce;
• Scottsdale agents Robert Harris for American Red Magen David for Israel, Brian Klimes for Lions Camp Tatiyee Inc., Paul Smith for Fountain Hills Noon Kiwanis Charitable Corporation, Alisa Armijo for Gabriel’s Angels, Julie Jakubek for Saint Mary’s Food Bank, and Marci Thompson for Leadership Workshops Foundation;
• Sedona agent Heather Morgan for the Sedona Arts Center;
• Sierra Vista agent Fran Richey for the American Cancer Society;
• Surprise agent Michael Scheuring for the Boy Scouts of America Grand Canyon Council;
• Tempe agents Don George for Pets On Wheels of Scottsdale and Hank Martinez for Housing for Mesa Inc.;
• Tucson agents Mike Brown for Shriners Hospital for Children the Mystic Shrine of North America Sabbar, Gary Nash for Arizona Special Olympics, John Dooling for Marana Community Clinic, Debe Campos-Fleenor for United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona Inc., Robert Logan and John Eichman for Chicanos Por La Causa, Susan Romero for Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, Dana Lim for Humane Society of Southern Arizona, Max Shemwell for Pima Trails Association, Linc Landreville for 88 Crime Inc., Edmund Marquez for the YMCA of Metropolitan Tucson Mulcahy, Alex Garcia for MentorKids USA, and Armando Rubio for University of Arizona Hispanic Alumni;
• Tucson personal financial representative Steven Cooper for Sahuaro High School’s Cougar Booster Club; and
• Yuma agents Blake Doten for Soroptimist International of Yuma and Hector Hurtado for Yuma Little League.

Helping Hands

The Helping Hands grant program recognizes the outstanding efforts of qualified employees who volunteer in their communities. Ten Allstate employees earned grants for Arizona organizations for which they volunteer:

• Denis Bailey, field vice president of the Southwest region in Phoenix, for his work with Health World of Scottsdale;
• Renee Criger, agency establishment specialist, for her work with Stepshouse, Inc.;
• Joel DeWall, administrative manager, for his work with YMCA Valley of the Sun;
• Randi DeWall, claim service adjuster, for her work with Phoenix Children’s Hospital;
• Shelley Frost, corporate relations manager, for her work with Florence Crittenton’s Transitional Living Program;
• Chris Gallagher, senior individual risk associate, for her work with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Arizona;
• Krisha Lockard, marketing representative, for her work with Arizona Humane Society;
• Teresa Lustig, distribution support leader, for her work with HandsOn Greater Phoenix;
• Dominic Ortega, senior instructor, for his work with the University of Arizona Hispanic Alumni;
• Benjamin Rieck, financial analyst, for his work with Arizona Lost Boys Center;
• Elizabeth Setzer, new agency specialist, for her work with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; and
• Rob Wilson, market sales leader, for his work with Shadow Mountain Little League.

About The Allstate Foundation

Established in 1952, The Allstate Foundation is an independent, charitable organization made possible by subsidiaries of The Allstate Corporation. The Allstate Foundation strives to make our communities and our nation a better and safer place to live through partnerships with non-profit organizations promoting “safe and vital communities,” “tolerance, inclusion, and diversity” and “economic empowerment.” Teen safe driving and building financial independence for domestic violence survivors have been priority issues for the Foundation since 2005. For more information, visit http://www.allstate.com/foundation.aspx.

SOURCE The Allstate Foundation