Building a strong community relies on supporting one another, and many nonprofits in the Phoenix area achieve just that: they support the members of their community through a litany of services. But the nonprofits can’t do it alone. In this article you’ll learn about three critical nonprofits in the Phoenix community, what they do, and how you can help them make your community even better!
Providing Quality-of-Life for Those Who Need It Most
Children living with a life-limiting illness or are faced with an end-of-life situation want the same things the rest of us do: the chance to enjoy and love life. Thankfully, nonprofits in the Phoenix area such as Ryan House provides pediatric palliative care to ensure that children and their families get to make the most out of the time they have.
If you’re unfamiliar with organizations like Ryan House fear not – you’re not alone. Ryan House is unique in the Southwest area as it’s the only organization of it’s kind, and only one other organization in the country has a similar mission. Ryan House aims to provide a number of services for both children and families. These services include:
- Pediatric Respite Care: Respite care provides the opportunity for children to have a night spending time with other children who are in similar circumstances and can understand the fears and complicated emotions that these children face. This service isn’t just to help the children though – it gives families “time off” so they don’t face family fatigue or breakdowns.
- Pediatric Palliative Care: Palliative care focuses on improving life and providing comfort for those that need it, while minimizing suffering for both the families and the children. This service can be a bright spot in bleak situations because it allows children and families to enjoy life for a bit.
- Life-Enhancing Therapeutic Activities: Improving quality-of-life by developing new skills, experience new things, and cope through activities such as music, poetry, are, pet sensory, and more.
- Pediatric End-of-Life Care: When the unthinkable becomes a reality, Ryan House supports children and their families with compassion and a support system.
- Grief and Bereavement Support: With support ranging from sibshops, family counseling, and annual events, Ryan House makes sure that the families are cared for when their loved ones have passed on, and that their children are not forgotten.
How You Can Help: Ryan House is unique in that it provides all these services at no cost to the families, and therefore volunteers and donations are always in need. A number of different types of volunteers are always needed, including care team, community, administrative volunteers, and more. However, volunteering isn’t the only way to lend a hand – individual contributions and fundraising opportunities are both ways members in the Phoenix community and beyond can support Ryan House. There are many other ways to get involved too, including food drives, wishlist donations, and gift cards.
Contact Ryan House today to start lending a helping hand.
The Support From Horses
Horses are more than just beautiful animals, they’re a staple of what makes Arizona such a special place. From the ranches that welcome visitors with open arms to the journeys people can take with them through the deserts and Grand Canyon, horses provide the community with more than meets the eye.
Horses Help, a nonprofit in Phoenix, shows how horses can be more than just admired – they can be therapeutic. Horses Help’s mission is to provide quality-of-life improvements to special needs and at risk members of the community through the use of horses. Horses Help, along with members of the community and other organizations, accomplish these goals through animal assisted programs, including:
- Adaptive Riding and Horsemanship: This program provides classes to teach participants how to ride a horse and various horsemanship skills with PATH International Certified therapeutic riding instructors managing the classes. These instructors help motivate and assist the students in developing independent skills from these classes that they can use in their lives after class is over.
- Hippotherapy: Hippotherapy may sound like therapy from hippopotamus’, but actually ‘hippo’ is the Greek word for horse. These therapy sessions are designed to help children as young as three, and all sessions are conducted by Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapists.
- Equine Facilitated Learning: With this program, participants are able to engage with horses as a form of therapy. Horses provide direct nonverbal feedback and are accepting in nature, helping to create a good learning environment for the participants.
How You Can Help: There are plenty of volunteer opportunities at the individual and corporate level – you don’t need to be a certified therapist to help! Individuals have a number of volunteer opportunities available, all centered around their personal skillset. These range from horse leaders and barn buddies to facility maintenance. At the corporate and group level there are plenty of events and needs to be met, and the more that volunteer the merrier!
Contact Helping Horses to get started today!
A Hospital For Children
Boasting as one of the largest children’s hospitals in the country, Phoenix Children’s Hospital has almost 1,000 pediatric specialists and over 70 subspecialities. The hospital is comprised of six centers and are on par with some of the most prestigious hospitals in the United States today. These centers are:
- Barrow Neurological Institute
- Phoenix Children’s Heart Center
- Center for Pediatric Orthopedics
- Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders
- Level One Pediatric Trauma Center
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
How You Can Help: There are three ways to help support the Phoenix Children’s Hospital: you can donate, volunteer, or get involved. Donations can be made financially or through gifts such as toys, books, and clothing. Getting involved through various events, charitable partnerships, and fundraising is a great way to support Phoenix Children’s Hospital. You can also volunteer, which is one the best ways to support Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Volunteer opportunities ranging from in-hospital and community volunteers, to animal-assisted therapy and a summer volunteer program can ensure that no matter what you’d like to do or have to offer, you’ll be helping the Phoenix Children’s Hospital in some way.
Contact the Phoenix Children’s Hospital to find ways you can help today!
And so many more…
There are so many great organizations helping our community. Here are just a few more we recommend.
PLEA (Phoenix Law Enforcement Association). See how you can support local law enforcement and give back to the first responders who give so much for us.
We also recommend: ICM Food & Clothing Bank. Meeting the basic and most critical needs of up to 180 families each day, ICM Food & Clothing Bank has been serving the community for over 32 years.
And we recommend: Larry H Miller Chrysler Jeep Dodge Surprise. Bringing value to car buying as well as valuable support of important community initiatives.
