Gila River Hotels & Casinos Guests Donate More Than $125,000 to Valley Nonprofits
Guests at Gila River Hotels & Casinos – Wild Horse Pass, Lone Butte and Vee Quiva – donated a total of $125,511.93 to four nonprofit organizations in the Valley.
Over the last 14 months through the Everi Cares Kiosk, guests gave to Beyond Autism, Foundation for Blind Children, Hope Community Services and UMOM Day Centers.
Everi Cares is a charitable giving application programmed into the kiosks on the casino floors that provide guests the opportunity to donate their change to nonprofits from their winning ticket vouchers. For people who enjoy an occasional casino spell or for the more professional ones, 2021 is definitely a great time to donate some of their winnings for a good cause.
Here is how much money each nonprofit received from guests and how each organization is spending these much-needed funds:
Beyond Autism (Scottsdale): $35,752.07
Beyond Autism conserved most of the funds in anticipation of the expansion of their program to a new Scottsdale location. The nonprofit has also been able to have its furloughed employees return to work. In addition, some of the funds will be used to expand their sensory room equipment, which their population so desperately needs during the pandemic.
Foundation for Blind Children (Phoenix/Chandler): $35,717.07
Foundation for Blind Children used the funds to support their animal-assisted therapy program in a virtual format. In addition to animal-assisted therapy for their students, the Foundation for Blind Children was also able to implement music therapy in the virtual setting and has had tremendous success.
Hope Community Services (Peoria): $28,196.28
Hope Community Services had to increase capacity in their Equine Therapy Program by 213 percent due to the pandemic. Donated funds aided the organization in serving more children in the program by allowing them to train additional therapists to directly impact the lives of children.
UMOM New Day Centers (Phoenix): $25,846.51
UMOM immediately responded to the increased need for shelter at the onset of the pandemic by expanding the number of family shelter units from 130 to 155. The donation from Gila River Hotels & Casinos guests assisted UMOM with providing 135 nights of shelter to vulnerable families.
Gila River Hotels & Casinos was the first gaming enterprise in Arizona to launch this unique charitable giving application in October 2019 and recently rotated the nonprofits to receive guest donations: Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation, Special Olympics Arizona, Homeless Youth Connection and Free Arts for Abused Children of Arizona.
