As a philanthropist, Charles Irion’s contributions span decades and can be seen locally and globally. Aside from his love of writing, Irion is passionate about the many charities he supports. Take a look below at the Charities Irion is involved in, and please click the links for more information if you are interested in seeing how you can help.
“The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Project C.U.R.E.
www.projectcure.org
Project C.U.R.E. was founded in 1987 to help meet the needs for medical supplies, equipment, and services around the world. Since its inception, Project C.U.R.E. has delivered medical relief to needy people in more than 120 countries. Irion has been a volunteer for Project C.U.R.E. for several years, and went on a medical mission to Belize, Central America in June, 2011. While there, he helped paint hospital rooms, build exterior lights, set up donated beds, and rebuilt a file storage area. Now as an advisory board member for the organization, Irion looks forward to his next volunteer medical mission in January, 2012 when he will be going to Cuba!
K-2 Adventures Foundation
https://k2adventures.org/About_K2.html
K2 Adventures Foundation, Inc., is a qualified 501(c)3 national and international organization formed to care for children and families with special needs and/or life changing medical circumstances by providing goods, services and funds that will be used for educational and medical enrichment. Charles Irion was a past committee member and participated in a medical mission to the Mwerni school for the blind in Moshi Tanzania, where he helped with medical evaluations of over 200 children; some of whom had never been seen by a medical doctor. K-2 Adventures Foundation also hosts fundraisers such as the K-2 masquerade ball, fashion shows, and other fundraising events that Irion participates in.
Phoenix Phil-Am Lions Club
Local – http://phoenixphil-amlionsclub.org/home.html
www.projectcure.org
Project C.U.R.E. was founded in 1987 to help meet the needs for medical supplies, equipment, and services around the world. Since its inception, Project C.U.R.E. has delivered medical relief to needy people in more than 120 countries. Irion has been a volunteer for Project C.U.R.E. for several years, and went on a medical mission to Belize, Central America in June, 2011. While there, he helped paint hospital rooms, build exterior lights, set up donated beds, and rebuilt a file storage area. Now as an advisory board member for the organization, Irion looks forward to his next volunteer medical mission in January, 2012 when he will be going to Cuba!
K-2 Adventures Foundation
https://k2adventures.org/About_K2.html
K2 Adventures Foundation, Inc., is a qualified 501(c)3 national and international organization formed to care for children and families with special needs and/or life changing medical circumstances by providing goods, services and funds that will be used for educational and medical enrichment. Charles Irion was a past committee member and participated in a medical mission to the Mwerni school for the blind in Moshi Tanzania, where he helped with medical evaluations of over 200 children; some of whom had never been seen by a medical doctor. K-2 Adventures Foundation also hosts fundraisers such as the K-2 masquerade ball, fashion shows, and other fundraising events that Irion participates in.
Phoenix Phil-Am Lions Club
Local – http://phoenixphil-amlionsclub.org/home.html
International - http://www.lionsclubs.org/EN/index.php
The Phoenix Phil-Am Lions Club is an international network who work together to answer the needs that challenge communities around the world. Charles Irion is currently a member of this club after having been a president and treasurer previously of an affiliated club the Barangay Lions. The Phil-Am Lions Club is part of one of the world’s largest service club organizations , Lions Clubs International. Irion participated as a translator during a cataract medical mission in Benjamin Hill, Sonora ,Mexico. Everywhere the club volunteers go, they make friends, and communities get better. The club helps wherever help is needed – in their own communities and around the world - with unmatched integrity and energy.
Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation
http://www.lions-sight-and-hearing-foundation.org/
The Phoenix Phil-Am Lions Club is an international network who work together to answer the needs that challenge communities around the world. Charles Irion is currently a member of this club after having been a president and treasurer previously of an affiliated club the Barangay Lions. The Phil-Am Lions Club is part of one of the world’s largest service club organizations , Lions Clubs International. Irion participated as a translator during a cataract medical mission in Benjamin Hill, Sonora ,Mexico. Everywhere the club volunteers go, they make friends, and communities get better. The club helps wherever help is needed – in their own communities and around the world - with unmatched integrity and energy.
Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation
http://www.lions-sight-and-hearing-foundation.org/
In the past Charles Irion was a Director and Treasurer of the Phoenix AZ Foundation which looks to Helen Keller as their inspiration. Irion continues to support the mission of Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation, which is to restore sight and hearing impairments by those people afflicted through medical care. The Lions Sight and Hearing Foundation formed in 1974 to carry out Helen Keller’s challenge to be “Knights of the Blind.”
Charles Irion’s Dictionary Program
For 10 consecutive years, Charles has personally purchased 1,000 of The Kingfisher Illustrated Pocket Dictionary’s and delivered them to underprivileged children in 4th and 5th grade classes in Phoenix, AZ. These dictionaries are for the children to keep and take home, with the hope that this resource will help build a child’s educational skills from an early age.
Social Venture Partners
http://www.svpaz.org/
Charles Irion is a founding principle of the Social Venture Partners organization in Arizona. SVP Arizona gathers successful professionals to leverage time, expertise, and resources to make strategic investments in the local community. Irion has participated in evaluating grantees that are applying for funds to help their 501(c)3’s which are geared toward children’s education and development needs. Over the course of the past 10 years, SVP Arizona has applied their investment model to more than a dozen investment and review cycles and granted over $3 million in funding to Maricopa County nonprofits.
Charles Irion is a volunteer for the Fiesta Bowl Charity. Previously, Irion participated in events including the Merrill Lynch Mile and the Fiesta Bowl Ball. The Fiesta Bowl is a non-profit organization that was founded by Arizona community leaders in 1971. Through the creation of the festival of College Football, which is inclusive of more than 40 statewide events, the annual Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and the Insight Bowl, the organization continues to promote volunteerism, athletic achievement and higher education. Its mission is to remain a source of pride for all Arizonans by contributing strongly to the state’s economic development, tourism and community causes.
The National Kidney Foundation of Arizona is the major voluntary health agency in Arizona seeking solutions for kidney and urinary tract diseases through education, prevention and treatment. Committed to improve the quality of life for Arizonans with kidney failure, the Foundation’s many programs bring help and hope to thousands of dialysis patients and transplant recipients. These efforts are made possible solely and in partnership with federal, state and local governments, public and private institutions, foundations and individuals. One of these individuals is Charles Irion. Charles has sponsored a table at the Author’s Luncheon in past years to help support this foundations endeavor.
The mission of the Arthritis Foundation is to improve lives through leadership in the prevention, control and cure of arthritis and related diseases. The Arthritis Foundation is the largest non-profit, private funder of arthritis research in the world, and has provided more than $400 million in research grants to more than 2,200 researches since its inception in 1948. AZ Arthritis Foundation is committed to supporting the highest quality research that will lead to the prevention, control and cure of arthritis and related diseases. Irion has sponsored tables at several events to help raise funds for this worthy foundation.
Healing The Children
http://healingthechildren.com.org/
Charles Irion is a supporter of this organization which was been providing medical care to children in need for over 30 years. Healing the Children envisions a world where every child has access to medical care, but the challenges have never been greater due to the ever changing healthcare system in the United States, the shortage of available funds to nonprofit organizations, and the ever increasing needs of children here and around the world. Healing the Children hopes to change the world for all the families who go to them for medical care that they can’t get anywhere else.
