Luke Airmen volunteer to help 15,000 community members Published May 3, 2012 By Senior Airman Sandra Welch 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. -- In support of HopeFest Phoenix, 63 Luke Air Force Base Airmen worked side by side with more than 2,200 community volunteers to help 15,000 community members at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix April 14. HopeFest Phoenix is an opportunity for low-income families to receive medical care, clothes, haircuts, personal care items, financial counseling, tax preparation, employment services, spiritual support, free groceries and much more. "This event provides a great service to those in need and I would definitely volunteer with them again," said Master Sgt. Michelle Mason, 56th Medical Operations Squadron. "Many people cannot afford medical and dental care and some have been suffering from pain because they don't have insurance. This gave them access to the help they needed. I appreciate that I was able to help the people who worked so hard to make this event happen." While this is the first year Phoenix has hosted the event, it is modeled after HopeFest Tucson, which has been running for 19 years. CityServe Arizona stepped up and adopted HopeFest to help the unemployed and under-employed community of Phoenix. "We distributed 10,000 bags of groceries and gave more than 700 haircuts to the attendees," said Jim Welter, CityServe Arizona operations and development director. "HopeFest Phoenix 2012 was funded by a collaborative effort among the four pillars that CityServe Arizona reaches out to: business, government, education and faith." More than 200 community and government agencies worked together to provide approximately 15,000 guests with free to low cost health services. Medical care included free eye exams, pregnancy screening, pediatric checkups, dental work, dermatology screenings, wellness checkups, diabetes care, pharmacy assistance, podiatry, asthma care, behavioral health attention, HIV and STD screenings, and injury prevention. Luke Airmen provided significant assistance with various tasks such as serving food and water, sorting and organizing donated clothing and toiletries, as well as setting up the event. As a result of working in Air Force medical career fields, several Airmen were assigned to escort guests through medical areas that were off limits to non-medical volunteers. Welter attributes the event's success to the many hours put in by volunteers. "We could not have held HopeFest Phoenix 2012 without our volunteers," Welter said. "The value of those volunteers was at least $240,000 and because of those committed individuals, we did not have to be concerned about raising funds to perform the tasks they volunteered to do."