Reaching Out
APS volunteers in the community

In the past year APS employees, friends and families have walked, climbed, bowled and cleaned all in the name of charity. They've been waiters and elves as well as philanthropists assisting their fellow humans.

One only need look at projects like the APS Volunteer Matching Gifts program as a benchmark of the company's spirit of giving.

"Every charitable event and project APS employees and their families show up en masse. It's a testament to something that's so intrinsic to our company. It's hard to put into words, but our people truly are Team APS," said Maria Maskell, volunteer coordinator. "The matching gifts program also is a reflection of the employees' willingness to give, both in terms of money and time."

Last year, the Matching Gifts program yielded more than $30,000 for non-profit organizations in addition to the hundreds of volunteer hours put in by employees. The program provides $125 grants to qualified non-profit agencies getting at least 25 volunteer hours from APS employees. It also matches any financial gift from an employee to a qualified non-profit organization by providing 50 cents to every employee dollar, up to $1,000.

"Our employees do so much good charitable work, the company goal is to acknowledge and honor each of them," Maskell said.

One such group of employees, better known as the APS Clown Troupe, has brought laughter and smiles to Arizona events for the past 19 years. The troupe has logged more than 40,000 hours of performances. While the clowns give first priority for their performances to organizations involving children, the elderly, disabled and disadvantaged, they also perform in nearly every community parade in Arizona and northern New Mexico including the Fiesta Bowl Parade, APS Fiesta of Lights and Parada del Sol.

The APS Volunteer Program is active in the more than 200 cities and towns in Arizona served by APS as well as northwestern New Mexico, where APS is a major employer. All it takes for a community, school or other non-profit organization to benefit from the APS Volunteer Program is the presence of a single employee or retiree who wants to contribute his or her time and talents to help others. APS employees, friends and family donated nearly 125,000 hours in 2007.

Here's a partial list of the many projects and hours invested by APS volunteers. In many instances, these charitable projects span more than a decade, bringing annual support to non-profits. And frequently, APS volunteers are leaders setting the course for these events. But the list, which isn't comprehensive, doesn't begin to describe the hard work of our volunteers:

• American Diabetes Association (ADA) Walk for Diabetes
  Team APS was named one of the top fundraisers with nearly 100 walkers raising more than $16,000. This success led to employees becoming involved with the walk planning committee and as members of the ADA Leadership Council.
• American Heart Association's Heart Walk
  Last year Team APS members participated in the walk in Tempe collecting just under $10,000. These funds supported research, education and community outreach by the AHA.
• Back-to-School Clothing Drive Association
  APS volunteers impacted the lives of more than 5,000 low-income children through this organization by distributing clothes, shoes, and a backpack filled with personal hygiene items. APS has participated for more than 10 years. In that time, we have clothed 40,000 children and another 25,000 through the SAFE program.
• Climb to Conquer Cancer
  Teams of 500 APS employees, friends and family members participated in this 5.5-mile trek at Phoenix's South Mountain Park. Through this event participants raised more than $40,000 for the American Cancer Society. APS has participated for more than 20 years.
• Day for Downtown
  APS volunteers joined a citywide effort to beautify downtown Phoenix producing 4,500 community service hours to 32 non-profit organizations and schools. APS employees conducted a literature fair at Booker T. Washington Child Development Center serving students from primarily low-income families.
• Holiday Food Drive
  APS employees and retirees collected more than $16,000 and 3,000 cans of food for St. Mary's/Westside Food Bank Alliance. Employees' generous donations helped provide more the 13,000 meals to families in need.
• Hula Bowl
  Through this annual bowl-a-thon, APS employees raised $7,400 to send 205 Arizona children to Junior Achievement, a non-profit economic education program.
• Santa Letters
  More than 80 APS volunteers, also known as Santa's elves, answered more than 800 letters in December to Kris Kringle from Arizona boys and girls of all ages.