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One of UFS’s five supporting business principles is, “Giving back to our community through charitable works”. Throughout the year, UFS both hosts and participates in a wide variety of events to support phenomenal non-profit agencies in our communities. We are committed to being a force for positive change in our society, and we invite our clients and colleagues to both participate in planned events and suggest future ones that would enhance our community.
 Another service UFS has recently sponsored is the AZ Lost Boys Center. The center, located in downtown Phoenix, provides a wide variety of support, educational, and transitional services for the over 550 Sudanese refugees who escaped the genocide in Darfur and found refuge in our city in 2001. In February of 2007, four team members attended the fund-raiser screening of God Grew Tired of Us, the 2006 Sundance Film Festival winner for Best Documentary that chronicles the experience of The Lost Boys. For the past two years, UFS has sponsored the Lost Boys birthday parties to celebrate the lives of Sudanese survivors who were too young to know their own birthdays before they lost their families and home. UFS looks forward to supporting the center in the future. For more information about this organization, go to www.azlostboyscenter.org
At this year's end-of-tax-season celebration, UFS piloted a partnership with Hope Wine. Established in Sonoma County in 2007, Hope Wine produces bottles of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and chardonnay . . . and directs 50% of their profits to important charities. Currently, funds generated by Hope Wine are being channeled to provide resources and awareness for AIDS, autism, and breast cancer - diseases that affect millions of people world-wide. Our team loved Hope's product, and we will be requesting its service at all venues that host future UFS events. To learn more about this innovative organization or order their wines or gift baskets, please see: www.hopewine.com.
 A third service with which UFS has partnered is Fresh Start. In 2006, both clients and employees participated in a toy and book drive to help replenish the child care and library at the center. Fresh Start is a one-of-a-kind women’s resource and empowerment center in Phoenix that provides employment, legal, transitional, educational, emotional, and social services to women who have been widowed, divorced, abused, or incarcerated. The center provides all of these services under one roof . . . a program that no other women’s resource center in the country can boast. For more information, go to www.wehelpwomen.com
 A new organization identified by the associates and clients at 51st street is AZ Rescue. This non-profit organization's mission in our community is to save displaced animals from euthanization and place them with new, loving homes. AZ Rescue began its good works in the Valley in 1995, and since its inception has matched over 8,000 animals with lucky families throughout our metropolitan area. This past tax season, the Ahwatukee office collected helpful items for their 'tax season drive' which were delivered to AZ Rescue at the end of April. For more information about AZ Rescue, please visit www.azrescue.org
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