Mike McQuaid I Am Home Breakfast is vital fundraiser at Keys to Change
Staff Reports | Digital Free Press
Nearly 700 people attending the Mike McQuaid I Am Home Breakfast along with over 40 event sponsors and donors from across Arizona helped raise $1 million for Keys to Change.
Representatives of Keys to Change report the event raised funds to provide services and resources to adult men and women experiencing homelessness.
Signature Sponsor Avondale Toyota supported the effort with both its sponsorship and a $250,000 match to funds raised during the Dec. 15 event at the Arizona Biltmore, according to a press release.
“The show of support from those who attended as well as from sponsors and other donors was overwhelming both financially and personally four our entire team as we continue to focus on helping unsheltered men and women find permanent housing,” said Keys to Change CEO Amy Schwabenlender, in a prepared statement. “We are incredibly grateful.”
Co-hosted by Ms. Schwabenlender and Arizona Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall, the 90-minute event featured several videos about the collaborative work of the organization and its partners. One of the videos featured Keys to Change Outreach Navigator Nette Reed, who leverages her own homelessness experience, with her four children, in her daily outreach to unsheltered men and women living on the streets in downtown Phoenix.
“Nette is an inspiration to us all, and most importantly, she is considered a friend and important resource to the people she sees and works with to help them move into shelter and housing every day,” Ms. Schwabenlender said.
At the event, Ms. Schwabenlender announced that after a year-long rebranding effort, the name of the 13-acre campus in downtown Phoenix would change to Key Campus and the name of the 501c3 nonprofit organization that provides critical client services and owns and and manages the campus would change from Human Services Campus, Inc. to Keys to Change.
“The new names enable us to better distinguish the organization from the campus location as well as to better reflect our organizational goals which extend beyond operating the campus to creating systemic changes with a focus on prevention, keeping people in their homes, diverting individuals from the homelessness system, and advocating for more affordable housing” she said.
