Girl Scouts–Arizona Cactus-Pine Council (GSACPC) was named as a Devin Booker Starting Five recipient, being awarded a $100,000 grant, alongside four other Valley nonprofits.



The grant, which was announced on Wednesday, Oct. 13, was presented to 60 Girl Scouts and Council staff members while they were attending the WNBA finals game at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix. The funds will be used to replace the mini-bus that is used to transports the girls to and from educational and character-building activities and experiences.



Due to vandalism and theft of the vehicle, GSACPC had no way to transport girls to programs and events. The lack of transportation often meant that girls would not have an opportunity to participate in activities. As GSACPC resumed its in-person activities these past few months, the lack of transportation was a huge loss for the organization. Funds from the grant will help transports girls to participate in programming activities in topics including financial literary, sportsmanship, summer camp and career education.



These programs are vital to the emotional well-being and social skills of the 11,000 girls GSACPC serves across the Valley and northern Arizona. Coming from different ages and backgrounds, around half of the Girl Scouts live below the poverty level, making programs that support education including STEM, outdoors, entrepreneurship and life skills more essential.



“Serving such a large community without transportation is near impossible and we are very grateful to Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns Charities for supporting girls and women in our state,” said Christina Spicer, interim Co-CEO of GSACPC. “Without transportation, we were unable to provide the girls with the experiences and activities that they had already been missing due to the pandemic. This grant couldn’t have come at a better time and means so much for our girls.”



For more information, visit http://www.girlscoutsaz.org.