McCarthy Heart Hats Donates $40,000 in Grants to MentorKids USA, Chavez Boxing Foundation

PHOENIX - Oct. 24, 2013 - PRLog -- McCarthy Southwest, a Phoenix-based division of McCarthy Building Companies, has awarded two grants totaling $40,000 via its Heart Hats community outreach program. MentorKids USA and Chavez Boxing Foundation will receive $20,000 each. In addition, Sojourner Center and Devereux Arizona will receive campus improvements as part of McCarthy Heart Hats’ in-kind team projects.

“This year, our Heart Hats committee chose to focus on nonprofits that help Arizona youth excel in life,” said Lani Calbert, chair of the McCarthy Southwest Heart Hats committee. “After interviewing several organizations and reviewing dozens of grant applications, MentorKids USA and Chavez Boxing Foundation’s proposed projects stood out as helping underprivileged youth in our community reach their greatest potential.”

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based MentorKids USA is the only mentoring organization reaching at–risk youth in metropolitan Phoenix in which programs are intrinsically interwoven with Christian principles. Programs are evidence-based and include long-term and site-based mentoring. Youth typically reside in three underserved neighborhoods with 75 percent of these youth living in poverty and faced with a variety of disparities. The $20,000 McCarthy grant will fund a new basketball court and picnic area on their campus.

Phoenix-based Chavez Boxing Foundation (http://chavezboxinggym.com/page13) is a nonprofit youth intervention and prevention program providing 
a safe, positive environment for Arizona youth to train and compete in amateur boxing. The Foundation promotes healthy behaviors through sport, encouragement and strict requirements regarding drugs/alcohol and serious scholastic focus. The center also provides tutors and advice about school and life choices. The $20,000 McCarthy grant will fund new boxing shoes, gloves and other equipment as well as assist with operating expenses.

In addition to the two grants, McCarthy also selected the Sojourner Center (http://www.sojournercenter.org), a Phoenix-based domestic violence shelter, as the recipient of this year’s in-kind volunteer project. McCarthy Heart Hats volunteers will work on a beautification project for the facility’s Child Development Center, including raising the curb for sand retention in the playground; adding more sand, a new drinking fountain and some basic lighting; painting; deep cleaning and installing new flooring in the center (as funds permit).

Devereux (http://www.devereux.org/site/PageServer?pagename=az_about) Arizona, a nonprofit providing behavioral and mental health services for children was also selected as a hands-on project grant recipient. In partnership with the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation's Give Back League, our goal is to assist in making the Devereux New Family Center concept a reality. The center will provide the children and their families a place to spend time together and teach transferable skills in a home-like environment.

The grants and in-kind projects are made possible thanks to the 25th annual McCarthy Charity Golf Classic, which is slated for Friday, Dec. 13, at the We-Ko-Pa Golf Club in Fort McDowell, Ariz.

Prior recipients of Heart Hats grants include Children’s Cancer Network, Starbright Foundation, Family Promise, Angels on Patrol, UMOM New Day Centers, Phoenix Youth at Risk, Habitat for Humanity, Salute a Soldier Foundation, Gabriel’s Angels, Tempe/Kyrene Communities in Schools and Crisis Nursery.

ABOUT MCCARTHY HEART HATS

The McCarthy Heart Hats community involvement program is dedicated to encouraging, supporting and recognizing McCarthy employees' volunteer efforts in a variety of causes to ensure realneeds are being met in communities where employees live and work.  McCarthy employees are as passionate about building better communities as they are about construction. In addition to recognizing outstanding employee volunteers and providing a company-wide paid volunteer day, McCarthy Heart Hats volunteers donate countless hours of in-kind services and monetary contributions to improve communities each year.

ABOUT MCCARTHY BUILDING COMPANIES

Founded in 1864, McCarthy is the nation’s 8th largest domestic builder (Engineering News-Record, May 2013). The McCarthy Southwest Division is based in Phoenix. McCarthy also has offices in Newport Beach, San Diego, Sacramento and San Francisco, Calif.; Las Vegas; Albuquerque; Dallas and Houston; St. Louis and Atlanta. McCarthy is 100 percent employee-owned.  More information about the company is available at www.mccarthy.com.