South32 delivering back to school supplies that they donated to the Jump Back to School event in Nogales, AZ. 

Mat Bevel Company has received a sponsorship from South32 and a grant from the South32 Hermosa Community Fund held at the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona. The sponsorship and grant support further development of The Universe Within science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) world-building curriculum.

South32 is a global mining and metals company with operations across five countries. South32 owns the Hermosa Project in the historic mining district within the Patagonia Mountains. It contains one of the largest undeveloped zinc resources in the world. Zinc is incorporated into electric cars and solar panels, used to galvanize steel that makes infrastructure possible, and serves as a key ingredient in every mobile phone and tablet. The Hermosa Project is South32’s first operation in North America.

South32 contributes significantly to the communities in which they operate. The company’s community investment plans focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aiming to tackle the world’s greatest sustainability challenges, including quality education, decent work and economic growth. During FY19, South32 invested US$17.3 million in community initiatives and activities, and from FY19-FY23 they’re committed to investing up to US$125 million.

“We supported Mat Bevel Company this year because The Universe Within is so important for preparing students for the jobs of the future,” said Pat Risner, South32 Hermosa Project President. “This program uses whole-brain learning that inspires kids to look at the world in new ways. Innovation skills like this are critical to the world and critical at South32 in helping us keep our commitment to improving people’s lives, so it’s great to see Mat Bevel Company fostering them from an early age.”

South32’s support helps Mat Bevel Company transition The Universe Within into both blended and remote learning editions, during and after COVID-19. These new curriculum formats will allow more students to benefit from this innovative STEM program and increase academic success using modern technologies that students are more comfortable with.

During the COVID-19 crisis, South32 has taken seriously its role in slowing the spread. It temporarily closed its Tucson and Patagonia offices in mid-March to minimize exposure and allow most employees to work remotely, limiting access and operations on its site, introducing daily health monitoring for its workers with critical roles requiring their presence at the site, and even temporarily suspending its drilling program. Since March, South32 has contributed $264,450 to help non-profits support basic needs of protective gear, healthcare, education and small business recovery:

• donated two air-purifying respirators to Holy Cross Hospital
• donated toilet paper, masks, and hygiene supplies to the Town of Patagonia, City of Nogales, and Nogales Suburban Fire District
• donated $50,000 to the COVID-10 Community Response Fund of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, and earmarked the full donation for mission-critical non-profits based in Santa Cruz County
• committed more than $25,000 to Santa Cruz County schools to support distance learning, including the purchase of Chromebooks
• contributed $60,000 to Santa Cruz County for the purchase of personal protective equipment and medical tents for emergency response and testing
• established an internal campaign so that its local workforce could commit donations that South32 matched dollar-for-dollar for community COVID relief
• sponsored $75,000 COVID-relief grant program through Local First Arizona to help small businesses in the area to cover costs like payroll and rent. Forty businesses took advantage of the program

All of this comes about a year into the life of the company’s Hermosa Community Fund, a fund advised by a panel of locals and two South32 representatives. They award grants to local non-profits doing work in education, environment, health and welfare, recreation, civic enhancement, and arts, culture and history in the county. Twenty organizations have received a South32 Hermosa Community Fund grant so far, for purposes ranging from college scholarships for students to fall-protection equipment for seniors. And when COVID hit Arizona, South32 quickly moved to allow these grantees to reallocate their unspent grant dollars toward operational expenses.

“Some of the businesses and organizations that look after the people, places and causes that make this county a community have been really struggling,” Risner said. “A generational project like Hermosa isn’t just about the mine life. With a project like this, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to create lasting, meaningful value in those terms, for generations beyond our own, as we develop the resource in their parents’ and grandparents’ backyard.”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
For further information contact: Paula Schaper, Vice President
Mat Bevel Company
520-604-6273
pschaper@matbevelcompany.org

[Patagonia, AZ, July 30, 2020]—Mat Bevel Company has been awarded a $24,745 grant by the Fund for the Common Good, a component fund of the Arizona Community Foundation. The purpose of the grant is to address a significant education challenge in rural Arizona. Participation in the grant process was initiated through Arizona Community Foundation of Cochise, located in Southeast Arizona’s Cochise County.

“Our nonprofit, in partnership with Patagonia Public Schools and University of Arizona School of Mathematical Sciences, has developed The Universe Within, a science, technology, engineering and math curriculum during the last 3 years,” Vice President Paula Schaper said. “The generous grant from the Arizona Community Foundation will give us additional resources to transition this traditional classroom world-building curriculum into a self-guided blended learning edition with a physical classroom setting and digital materials.”

Key areas that this grant will fund are production of sequential multimedia elements to motivate and prepare students to participate in hands-on activities including opening cinematic videos, a Teacher Curriculum Guide and The Daily Doodle Student Activity Book. Test pilots will serve students in Cochise County and eastern Santa Cruz County.

The curriculum uses Mat Bevel Company President Ned Schaper’s magical world of Beveldom as the framework for students to create their own magical worlds. They develop positive alter-ego characters and make functional headdresses, tools, gadgets and machines from recycled materials to help them solve real-world problems. Lessons align with Science, Math, Engineering, Visual Arts, Theater Arts and English Language Arts Arizona State Standards.

The Patagonia Regional Community Fund, an affiliate of the Arizona Community Foundation, also awarded Mat Bevel Company a $2,970 grant this year for The Universe Within. Board member Nancy McCoy, who came to one of the classes at Patagonia Elementary School, was impressed with the creative thinking that the kids had to do. She said, “The Universe Within activities stimulated students’ imaginations yet were still very organized and focused. Students were being creative within a structure.  I liked how the kids were all interested in each other’s creative work. They participated and contributed to each other’s ideas.”

As a former teacher, Nancy knows how much children enjoy really creative activities where they get to stretch their imaginations. She earned a Bachelors in Elementary Education and a Masters in Gifted Education.

Mat Bevel Company was founded in 1993 and has served thousands of children and adults from Pima and Santa Cruz counties in Southern Arizona, as well as visitors from around the country through Museum Of Kinetic Art tours, Surrealistic Pop Science Theater live productions and the School of Intuition workshops. The School of Intuition, a charitable Single Member LLC of Mat Bevel Company, manages the collaborative activities of Mat Bevel Company, Patagonia Public Schools and University of Arizona School for Mathematical Sciences. For more information on Mat Bevel Company visit: https://www.matbevelcompany.org/. To learn more about The Universe Within visit: https://the-universe-within.org/

Established in 1978, the Arizona Community Foundation is a statewide family of charitable funds supported by thousands of Arizonans. More information is available at https://www.azfoundation.org/.