Betsy Bolding Receives Margie Frost Champion Against Poverty Award
Betsy Bolding has received the Margie Frost Champion Against Poverty Award for her consistent and staunch advocacy on behalf of vulnerable individuals and families in Arizona.
Bolding was presented with the award at the annual Wildfire Statewide Conference at Harrah’s Ak-Chin Resort and Casino. Wildfire was previously known as the Arizona Community Action Association.
“There is so much I could say about Betsy, about her legacy of caring and concern, about her advocacy for individuals in our state without a voice and about her impact over a remarkable career on so many levels,” said Wildfire Executive Director Cynthia Zwick. “The Margie Frost Champion Against Poverty Award says it all because it recognizes individuals who are focused on the people we serve and those who serve them and Betsy perfectly reflects Margie’s legacy as a community activist. Betsy has always been driven by her deep and unshakeable concern for the people of Arizona.”
The Margie Frost Champion Against Poverty Award is named after the longtime community activist and creator and former director of the East Valley Men’s Center, a facility for homeless men re-entering society. Frost, who was the 1990 Mesa Woman of the Year and recipient of the 1995 Alma Blew Award for Most Outstanding Service to Humanity, died in 2008.
Bolding retired after a 25-year career with Tucson Electric Power and UNS Energy Corporation where she had been Consumer Affairs Director, managing outreach for a variety of solar, environmental and educational programs as well as programs designed for special-needs and low-income customers.
A 15-year public-school teacher of English and journalism, in 1978 she went to work co-managing Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt’s campaign in Tucson and then directed that office for eight years.
She currently is the Board Chair for the Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation (SARSEF).
An Arizona native, her grandparents moved to a small ranch between Phoenix and Glendale before Arizona gained statehood and she spent her summers in Prescott.
Among the organizations she has supported are The Loft Cinema, Arizona Public Media, Prescott College, Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation, Southern Arizona Green Chamber of Commerce, Habitat for Humanity, the Cooper Center for Environmental Learning and the Women’s Studies Advisory Council, both at the University of Arizona.
