SBCO Elects New Board of Directors
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
On April 11 at the annual meeting of SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO), the organization elected its board of directors for 2022-23. The members of the new board include:
* President: Denise Anthony
* Executive Vice President: Ann Coziahr
* Recording Secretaries: Cheryl Smith and Marcia Van Ommeran
* Corresponding Secretary: Karen Green
* Treasurer: Camille Esterman
* Assistant Treasurer: Jeannine Grippo
* Vice Presidents Education: Linda Richter and Steve Sahl
* Vice President Kids’ Closet: Michelle Schroeder
* Directors of Scholarship Endowment: George Nersesian and Ed Barnes
* Directors of Teen Closet: Vivian Enrico and Eileen Hansen
* Directors of Membership: Andrea Stephens and Betty Ryan
* Director of Communications: Nancy McCluskey-Moore
* Golden Goose Representative: Melanie Stout
Board members serve two-year terms and may be re-elected to serve a second term. Five returning board members required board approval to continue their service beyond four consecutive years in the same position. These included Camille Esterman, Karen Green, Nancy McCluskey-Moore, Marcia Van Ommeran, and Cheryl Smith.
33 Scholarships Awarded to College-Bound Students
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
Each year SaddleBrooke Community Outreach’s (SBCO) Education Committee receives applications from local high school seniors for college scholarships. After the applications are received, committee members review each student’s financial situation, high school transcript, activities, an essay about personal and professional goals, and letters of recommendation. Committee members then conduct a personal interview to select the scholarship recipients. This year, the committee received 39 applications (an increase of 39% over 2021) and awarded 33 undergraduate scholarships. Twenty-six were for four-year degrees and the remaining seven were for two-year degrees. Approximately 82% of applicants received scholarships.
In addition, this year the Education Committee awarded three scholarships to graduate students accepted into dentistry, clinical psychology, and journalism programs. One of these students was awarded $1,500 per semester for up to four semesters. The other two scholarships were financed from the interest earned on the SBCO Scholarship Endowment Fund and were awarded as $6,000 one-time grants. This fall, a total of 94 students will be supported by SBCO scholarships.
Students attending two-year colleges receive a $1,500 per year scholarship while those attending four-year institutions receive $3,000 per year. If a student earns a minimum 2.0 GPA while registered as a full-time student with a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester, the scholarship continues until a two- or four-year degree is completed. If a student’s tuition and other expenses are otherwise covered, SBCO will pay for other school-related expenses to offer the maximum benefit from the scholarship. If a student receiving a two-year degree wishes to continue in a four-year program, a second $3,000 a year scholarship may be awarded.
SBCO Honors Volunteers and Supporter of the Year
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
For the past 25 years, all-volunteer organization SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) has provided food, clothing, educational grants, and scholarships for local children in communities along the 100+-mile “Copper Corridor” that stretches north from Catalina. On April 11, SBCO board members, volunteers, and supporters gathered to celebrate the achievements of the past year, honor the special contributions made by the volunteers and supporter of the year, and kick-off SBCO’s 25th anniversary celebration.
Volunteers of the Year
Ann Van Sickel, along with Marv and Bonnie Richter, were named volunteers of the year. Ann became a volunteer in 2012. She has worked as a Kids’ Closet dresser helping children select and try on clothing, as an inventory re-stocker ensuring that students have many items from which to choose, and as a merchandise receiver processing clothing prior to delivery at the Kids’ Closet facility in Mammoth. As a result of wearing “many hats,” Ann has been involved in most of the steps Kids’ Closet uses to distribute clothes to local students in need and has found her volunteer work to be very rewarding.
Seven years ago, Marv Richter joined the SBCO scholarship committee, which then had only eight members to receive and review scholarship applications, interview applicants, help select scholarship recipients, and stay in contact with students through their college years. He stepped in to help with this essential but labor-intensive work. Today Marv serves as the liaison for Central Arizona College students. He says, “Working with these students, ensuring they receive all the money awarded to them, and being their advocate when problems or issues arise, has been very rewarding.”
Bonnie Richter started volunteering with SBCO with the Teens Sew Cool and Teen Closet programs. She then joined Marv on the scholarship committee. Bonnie works with students from Globe and Superior. She says, “Interviewing scholarship students is so awesome. Hearing them discuss their hopes for the future and knowing that we can help them achieve their goals makes me proud to be a small part of this great organization. Helping high school students attend college can make a big difference in their lives.”
Supporter of the Year
Realtor Beth Fedor and her partners at Realty Executive Arizona Territory’s Make Your Move Matter Team, Realtor Lynn Dent, and Real Estate Concierge Jo Parsons, include SBCO in a list of local nonprofit charities that their clients may select for the team’s community give-back program. When clients buy or sell a home with Make Your Move Matter, 10% of the realtor’s commission goes directly to the charity of the client’s choosing.
“We were delighted that such a deserving charity as SBCO received a lion’s share of the nearly $60,000 we were able to give back in 2021,” said realtor Beth Fedor. “It’s especially gratifying to see that a number of our clients have also become SBCO volunteers. Lynn, Jo, and I have always been involved in charity work, and we know first-hand how much this organization uplifts the children and families of the Copper Corridor. We look forward to supporting SBCO in the coming years and encourage others to support these precious kids.”
The agency has also been a financial supporter for the SBCO walkathon, and Beth also has co-chaired the annual SBCO home tour and walkathon, and, along with Jo, regularly volunteers in the SBCO office.
SBCO 2022 Food Drive a Rousing Success
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
Since 1998, SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) has held a food drive to help prevent hunger and poor nutrition among residents of local communities. Each year, SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch residents generously donate money, food, and time to make the annual event a great success. This year, due to COVID, the food drive only accepted monetary donations between Feb. 19 and March 19. Nevertheless, the drive to fight hunger brought in a whopping $191,618 in contributions. A total of 1,682 individuals contributed to this year’s food drive.
The food drive benefits the Tri-Community Food Bank (TCFB), which serves residents of Dudleyville, Mammoth, San Manuel, and Oracle. Due to generosity of SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch residents, TCFB is able to make an enormous difference in the lives of the people who live in their service area. In recent months, TCFB has been able to build a new warehouse with ample space to store monthly deliveries of multiple large pallets of non-perishable food. This facility is equipped with electrical service for lighting and a thermostatically controlled fan. Located directly behind the Food Bank building, this warehouse forms a courtyard with a new outdoor walk-in cooler and freezer. These facility upgrades dramatically improve TCFB’s ability to provide nutritious meals to those in need.
Rosemary Douglas, a member of the Tri-Community Food Bank (TCFB) board of directors executive committee, stated, “The wonderful response to the 2022 SBCO food drive is a tremendous boost for the food bank. The money raised will help to meet the needs of our 300 client families—900 people—for more than a year. The board of TCFB and the people we serve are very grateful to the generous SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch residents who supported this annual event. We are here to provide hope, so it is wonderful for our clients to know that others care about them.”
SBCO thanks the volunteers who served on the food drive committee and as unit captains, unit coordinators, and office staff for their work collecting and processing donations. Most importantly, we offer a huge “thank you” to both communities for their generous support of this event.