Kinship Caregivers Get Big Boost from Arizona Gives Day Donors
Foster-kinship families throughout Southern Arizona will have more opportunities for support and community this year, thanks to the generosity of Seeds Community Center donors on Arizona Gives Day 2025.
This year’s Arizona Gives Day fundraiser brought in a record $21,595 from 70 individual donors and 4 community sponsors. Also, for the fifth consecutive year, Seeds Community Center received the most donations compared to other nonprofits our size during our “power hour,” earning a $2,000 bonus (preliminary results).
“The kinship families we work with often tell us how grateful they are for this organization and the support they receive, and that they only wish more families knew about us and could take advantage of what we offer,” says Executive Director Christe LePeau. “The funds raised on Arizona Gives Day will allow us to increase our outreach, provide services to more families, and continue popular programs like our family respite events and our Enrichment Matters scholarship fund for extracurricular activities.”
In 2024, supported by Arizona Gives Day donors, Seeds Community Center was able to:
Host 10 kinship support groups with free dinner and childcare
Award 18 scholarships to pay for extracurricular activities for kinship youth
Deliver 91 hand-picked Christmas gifts to every member of the kinship families we work with
Send 40 seasonal care packages with treats and activities
Promote longtime volunteer Becky Schmidgall to part-time staff
“Our 2025 Arizona Gives Day donors sent a strong message that foster-kinship families deserve our support,” says Tracy Mueller, president of the Seeds Community Center board of directors. “This investment allows us to further solidify our programs so that kinship caregivers and their children know they have a resource they can count on.”
90 percent of kinship caregivers are not formally licensed foster care parents, and therefore receive far less support from the State of Arizona—$300 a month compared to the $700 a month that a licensed, non-relative caregiver receives.* They also receive little to no formal training and often have very little time—sometimes only a few hours—to prepare to take in a child. Seeds Community Center steps in to help fill this gap in support and seeks to provide meaningful care to every member of a kinship family.
*Source: Children’s Action Alliance
Support for Arizona Gives Day is Provided By
MyersStrickland Law
Resilience Therapy
Edward Jones, Spencer Campman
The Phil LePeau Real Estate Group
