An Afternoon of Music, Connection, and Hope at Child Crisis Arizona – October 2025
Walking through the doors of the new Child Crisis Arizona Center for Child & Family Wellness, I was immediately filled with a sense of awe and pride. This remarkable organization has been a lifeline in our community for more than four decades — offering emergency shelter, early education, foster care and adoption services, counseling, and parenting support to Arizona’s most vulnerable children and families. Their work is nothing short of essential, helping families heal and find stability when they need it most.
Through The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation, we were honored to contribute to the capital campaign that made this stunning new facility possible. Seeing it come to life reminded me how powerful it can be when a community comes together to create something built on compassion and hope.
I had the pleasure of touring the center with Torrie Taj, Child Crisis Arizona’s inspiring CEO and a woman whose leadership truly reflects heart-driven excellence. Torrie’s passion and vision are evident in every detail of the design — from the thoughtful touches that honor nature and comfortable gathering spaces to the state-of-the-art, full-service kitchen and serene wellness spaces. What makes this building truly special is the array of community partners, such as Free Arts, one•n•ten, Ballet Arizona, and more, that come onsite regularly to provide much-needed services to families. The space serves as an inviting, safe resource hub for the 40,000+ lives Child Crisis Arizona touches annually. To say that we are fortunate to have their presence in our community is an understatement.
My visit ended on a high note — quite literally — with a music class for 4- and 5-year-olds and their caregivers, a program created in partnership with Rosie’s House, another organization our Foundation proudly supports. Before class began, I had the pleasure of meeting Becky Bell Ballard, Rosie’s House’s wonderful CEO, whose team strives daily to make free, high-quality music education accessible to children whose families could otherwise not afford it. Rosie’s House provided each young participant with small instruments — drums, tambourines, and shakers — to help bring the lesson to life.
The class was led by a young music educator with a beautiful voice and a knack for engaging small children, accompanied by a Child Crisis Arizona staff member who translated songs and instructions into Spanish so every family could participate fully. I joined right in, standing shoulder to shoulder with the parents and children, each of us holding the edge of a bright, multicolored parachute with a variety of balls in the center that represented popcorn kernels. Together, we sang a lighthearted song about popping popcorn while we lifted and shook the parachute to the rhythm of the music. When we reached the finale of the song — when the “popcorn” was done — laughter erupted as the balls in the parachute’s center bounced and flew across the room in bursts of energy and delight.
And of course, I couldn’t help but show up with a little something extra: a book for each child — What a Wonderful World by Bob Thiele— a fitting reflection of the joy and gratitude that filled the room, as well as an array of small instruments from the Child Crisis Arizona Wish List, including soft-toned drums, a small singing bowl, a steel tongue drum, and a rain stick. We closed the class by reading and singing What a Wonderful World together — a reminder that even in the face of life’s challenges, there’s so much beauty and hope around us.
That afternoon, watching Child Crisis Arizona and Rosie’s House come together was a moving reminder of what collaboration and partnership can achieve. The Center for Child & Family Wellness is an unparalleled resource for Arizona — a place where families find healing, children find joy, and our community grows stronger through shared compassion and care. I left with a full heart, humming the tune of our parachute song, grateful to witness such joy and promise in action.
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