SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | MAY 22, 2022
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Kasai to tee off inaugural charity golf tourney BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer
K
asai Japanese Steakhouse owner Mike Russello has always loved golf and giving back to charities and wanted to create an event where he could do both. “I like golf and I like having a lot of golfers coming in,” Russello said. “I think it’s a good way to do charity events.” Russello spent countless hours sifting through charities that worked with children and had the pool shrunk down to five charities when one jumped out at him. Arizonans For Children — a 501 (c) (3) that facilitates opportunities that provide effective solutions to alleviate hardships and improve the fragile lives of the abused, abandoned and neglected children in foster care.
Kasai Japanese Steakhouse is hosting its first-ever charity golf tournament on June 6 at Silverado Golf Club to benefit Arizonans for Children. The deadline to register for the tournament is Monday May 23. (Special to the Progress)
“We definitely rely very heavily on community support, whether that’s individual volunteers or organizational partners,” said Arizonans for Children mentor supervisor Monique Quinones. “This is a great opportunity for us to help support another organization and help get our name out there.” Although the mission was an important factor to Russello, he also considered how the funds would be used by the organization. “Our funding goes straight to the programs with the main one being our visitation centers,” Quinones said. The funds will also go towards keeping its buildings funded, hosting classes for children that benefit from Arizonans for Children and funding its mentor program
see KASAI page 19
Long-time horse trainer enjoys cowboy life
BY MELODY BIRKETT Progress Contributor
A
l Dunning moved to Arizona in 1958 from Chicago when he was a little boy and Scottsdale was a very different world. “When I moved here, Scottsdale was known as the ‘westmost western town,’” said the owner of Al Dunning Training Stable Inc. and Almosta Ranch. “I used to keep my horses at Miller and Indian School roads.” He recalls riding on down Indian School Road – “which was all dirt, – and tie up his horse at Ranch House Hamburgers on the corner of Scottsdale and Indian School roads, where, “you could buy five hamburgers for $1.” His sisters’ involvement with horses led him to follow suit.
Al Dunning of Scottsdale is a long-time trainer of horses and the people who ride them professionally. (Special to the Progress)
“In 1970, I decided to become a professional horse trainer after many years of working as an assistant trainer after school for several different trainers,” said Dunning. “I moved into the Almosta Ranch. It was on the canal bank at Before becoming a professional trainer, Dunning showed horses in every event. “In Western classes and English classes, I roped and reined and did working cow horse, trail at every event,” he said. “When I became a professional, I continued doing those events for other people where someone would come and ride with me and I’d buy them or sell them a horse. Then we’d go to shows together.
see DUNNING page 18
