Arizona Helping Hands announced that Kia America has donated $90,000 to the nonprofit’s programs for foster children and kinship families.

“We are so appreciative of community partners like Kia,” said Maureen Noe, president and CEO of Arizona Helping Hands, in a press release. “With their much-needed funding, we are able to alleviate some of the obstacles that more than 14,000 Arizona foster children face each year.”

The funding from Kia will be used to support three Arizona Helping Hands programs:

• The Basic Needs Program provides essential items and bedding to children up to 21 years old as they are placed with new foster families.
• The Back to School program provides children with backpacks filled with school supplies to help them achieve success in the educational setting.
• The Foster Footlockers program provides foster children in group homes with a sense of security by allowing them a secure space to store personal keepsakes and belongings.

The organization anticipates that the donation will help provide services to more than 1,200 children across the three programs, as well as remove barriers to access to essential items that some foster and kinship families face due to cost and lack of transportation, the release added.

Arizona Helping Hands helped more than 3,500 children in 2022, including bringing beds to 1,765 children, distributing 1,622 backpacks of school supplies and providing 483 foster footlockers.

Each year, the organization’s volunteers donate about $200,000 to the mission of helping foster children.

Learn about the organization’s mission and how to donate at azhelpinghands.org.