Giving back in Southern Arizona

Pediatric cancer research at the University of Arizona Steele Children’s Research Center got a half-million- dollar boost last week from Hyundai Hope on Wheels and Tucson Hyundai dealer Jim Click.

The Hyundai Hope on Wheels grant funds will support the work of Dr. Emmanuel Katsanis and Dr. Yi Zeng, in honor of National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

Katsanis is researching novel post-transplant drug approaches to suppressing graft-versus-host disease in bone-marrow transplant patients. Zeng is studying whether the enzyme Pak2 can be a new target for suppressing graft-versus-host disease and improving graft-versus-leukemia through its modulation of immune cells.

A $400,000 Hyundai grant was presented in a ceremony Sept. 2 in the lobby of Banner Children’s – Diamond Children’s Medical Center. Click added a personal contribution of $100,000.

During the ceremony, Hope On Wheels commemorated Tucson-area children affected by cancer by capturing their handprints. Hyundai Hope on Wheels is launching the latest advancement of its “Every Handprint Tells a Story” campaign at HopeOnWheels.org/September. Visitors will find videos profiling child cancer patients and their parents and families.

In other giving:

• Cox Communications

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• is sponsoring free admission to the Children’s Museum Tucson on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The museum is at 200 S. Sixth Ave.

• United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona

• invites volunteers to sign up starting Wednesday, Sept. 9, to participate in Southern Arizona’s single largest volunteer event, Days of Caring 2015, on Wednesday, Nov. 4, and Saturday, Nov. 7. Volunteers can sign up at Volunteer.UnitedWayTucson.org and choose from hundreds of projects at local schools, child-care centers and nonprofit agencies. Volunteer registration ends Wednesday, Oct. 28. For more information, email daysofcaring@UnitedWayTucson.org.

• PetSmart Charities:

• Over National Adoption Weekend on Sept. 11-13, the Pima Animal Care Center will offer $20 pet adoptions at three PetSmart stores to celebrate the launch of an off-site adoption program funded by a $106,315 grant from PetSmart Charities. Times and locations are: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at PetSmarts at Oracle and Wetmore (cats, dogs, puppies and kittens); Grant and Swan (cats, dogs, puppies and kittens); and El Con Mall (cats and kittens). More info: www.pima.gov/animalcare

• Casino del Sol Resort

• will present HungerWalk 2015 on Sept. 19 at 8 a.m. to raise funds for the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. The walk will be held in two locations: Kino Sports Complex in Tucson and La Posada in Green Valley. For more information, including costs to enter, or to register, see www.HungerWalkArizona.org online. Other sponsors include La Posada, AdVision Outdoor, Volk Co., Cox Communications, NRG Solar Avra Valley, Green Valley News & Sun and Fry’s Food Stores. See a complete list at www.HungerWalkArizona.org/Sponsors