Throughout 2020 and now into the new year, The Thunderbirds – hosts of the Waste Management Phoenix Open – have reached out to their incredible charity partners to help spread messages of hope and help to the local communities they serve through their “In the Community Conversations”  segments.

In this latest edition, 2021 Waste Management Phoenix Open  Tournament Chairman Scott Jenkins caught up with Heidi Coupland, development manager at Fresh Start Women’s Foundation, to discuss current challenges and how the community can help.

“Our resource center helps women in the community by equipping them with career and educational skills and tools so they may move forward in their lives,” said Coupland. “Our Family Law Center – funded by Thunderbirds Charities – helps women remove any barriers, whether it be personal or legal barriers, in their lives.”

Nearly every business and charity in the country has been impacted by the health crisis. Fresh Start is no different.

“The first thing we did was reach out to our most at-risk clients, providing them with safe places to go, safe phone numbers to call,” said Coupland. “We found resources for them. Unfortunately, as quick as we were able to move, the demand for our services moved just as fast. We have seen a 27 percent increase in new clients in just the past eight months. We’re helping more women than ever just because the need is larger now more than ever before. We’re just doing it remotely.”

Interested in helping Fresh Start? Here’s what they need the most.

“We definitely rely on the generosity of our community to help us continue to provide these services for women,” said Coupland. “Honestly, the best way to help us right now is through actual monetary donations. Fresh Start qualifies as a charitable organization for the Arizona state tax credit program, which means anyone who files taxes as a couple can donate up to $800.”

To learn more about Fresh Start Women’s Foundation, visit their website HERE.

To donate, CLICK HERE.