TOURISM BUREAU HELPS GROUP WITH HIGH COST OF GAS

Fountain Hills, Arizona - At their recent monthly advisory committee meeting, the Fountain Hills & Fort McDowell Tourism Bureau, a division of the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce, voted unanimously to donate $750 worth of pre-paid gas cards to Native American Connections, a local non-profit that provides social services to the urban Indian population and tribal communities of Arizona. The gas cards were remaining from a promotion run during the summer of 2004 to increase day trip traffic to Fountain Hills and Fort McDowell.

“The board felt strongly that these unused gas cards should go to help a local non-profit provide services,” said Frank Ferrara, President of the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce. “Native American Connections provides many services that involve transportation and driving, so the board felt that they could make good use of these cards,” said Ferrara.

The Exxon-Mobil gas cards had been purchased in 2004 for a special summer promotion, and they were sitting in the Chamber office. Since there is not an Exxon-Mobil station in Fountain Hills, the board determined that the cards should be donated to a non-profit outside of Fountain Hills that provides services that benefit community members both in Fountain Hills and Fort McDowell.

“This is a great example of the partnership we have with Fountain Hills,”
said Raphael Bear, President of the Fort McDowell Tribal Council. “Most of the time our work in the tourism arena is concentrated on getting people to visit our area. It’s nice that we can do something extra special by making this donation,” said Bear.

The Fountain Hills & Fort McDowell Tourism Bureau is a sanctioned committee of the Chamber of Commerce, and is jointly funded by the Town Council of Fountain Hills from funds generated through local transient bed tax collections, and from the Tribal Council of Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, with funds collected as a result of the Proposition 202 initiative adopted by voters in 2002. The Bureau works to promote Fountain Hills and Fort McDowell as a destination for golf, culture, shopping, dining, outdoor activities and meetings.