Bashas': In the Market for Generosity

The name, of course, carries its own considerable weight, from Nogales to Window Rock, wherever people push a grocery cart.

But when the staff and friends of Phoenix Children's Hospital mention "the Bashas," it's the stories - the personal glimpses - they remember.

Teresa Boeger, former director of the Child Life program, recalls how, on "Nutrition Day" during the hospital's annual Children and Healthcare Week activities, "We'd have a mock-up grocery in the center pod, and they'd let us use Bashas' shopping carts and bags.

"And Trey Basha would come in and be our check-out guy. He just really interacted well with the children. You could be pretty boring with that, but he livened it up. He was fun."

Irene Jacobs, Executive Director of The Emily Center, the hospital's pediatric health care library, tells of seeing Trey's wife, LeAnn - a member of the Center's Community Advisory Committee - enlist her husband and children to volunteer with her at a fund-raising event.

"She and Trey and the kids came and helped out, distributing popsicles to everybody."

Paul Roshka, a family friend who has served with Trey on the hospital's Foundation board for several years, remembers the family's determination, back in 1991, to use their stores to promote Phoenix Children's then-struggling Holiday Card Project. Roshka, who at the time was overseeing the project, discouraged the idea, telling Trey that the cards designed by kids in the Children's Cancer Center would just get lost in the seasonal rush at the Bashas' stores.

Trey was not dissuaded.

"He said, 'What if 50 percent of all our advertising from mid-November through mid-December was geared toward this? What if we promote it in our print ads, our TV commercials, and our radio spots? What if we put the logo on all our paper and plastic bags? What if we have all our people wear aprons that have the logo printed on them?'"

Roshka surrendered. "You've got a deal," he said.

So did the "Rainbow Kids" of the Children's Cancer Center. Sales for the holiday cards more than doubled that year, and have remained high ever since.

In fact, the Bashas have been directly or indirectly responsible for the donation of tens of thousands of charitable dollars to Phoenix Children's over the years. But the support goes far beyond cash and checks - the Bashas have also contributed countless food baskets, toys and gift certificates to the hospital's patients and families, volunteered thousands of hours on boards and committees, and in doing so, have set a remarkable example for other businesses in the community.

That example has been particularly evident in the lives of Trey (who has served as a member of the boards of the hospital, the Foundation and the Cancer Center - and as chairman of the latter two groups) and LeAnn (who serves on the Executive Committee of The Emily Center).

"They're pace-setters," said Toni Neary Harper, Senior Director of Philanthropy at the Phoenix Children's Hospital Foundation. "The Bashas always have their hands and hearts open, giving back to people, and urging others to give generously, too."

One of LeAnn's greatest contributions, Jacobs said, was her willingness to serve as co-chair of The Emily Center Fashion Show in 1998. It was no small task to take on, since the event draws more than 1,000 people and is largely responsible for raising the annual operational funds for the center.

Under LeAnn's leadership, the event raised a record-breaking $135,000 for The Emily Center.

"We must give back to a community that helped raise us and is helping to raise our children," LeAnn said. "Trey and I made a commitment to serve in the community, and to teach our children that they must look for opportunities to serve others. We chose Phoenix Children's Hospital because it gives our children opportunities to serve right along with us."

"Trey and LeAnn have been extraordinarily generous with both their time and their talents," said Burl Stamp, President and CEO of Phoenix Children's. "Their store motto ('You've got a friend') is so appropriate, because the patients at our hospital certainly know that they have a friend in the Bashas."

Trey and LeAnn say they are particularly excited about the new hospital campus.

"Having a children's hospital in Phoenix is extremely critical, and a must for the health and welfare of our state's children," LeAnn said.

"Healing children is more than just providing a physical facility with doctors and nurses," Trey said. "It is about providing a different environment that caters exclusively to children and their families."

But for her family, LeAnn says, "the greatest pleasure of being involved with Phoenix Children's Hospital is the knowledge that, in some small way, you have helped to make a child's future a little brighter, or to ease the burdens of concerned and worried parents."

Helping to make things brighter, and lighter. That's the characteristic of a friend.