Help SBCO by Recycling Aluminum Cans
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
For over two decades, SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) has recycled donated aluminum cans to raise funds for clothing, food, and educational programs that benefit children in nearby communities. To date, this program has raised almost $60,000, but just as importantly, it has kept a tidal wave of recyclable cans from reaching the landfill.
The SBCO recycling container has been relocated to Bobcat Canyon off Ridgeview. To recycle bags or boxes full of aluminum cans, simply turn off Ridgeview onto Bobcat Canyon (the road that provides access to the golf maintenance yard). This area is accessible from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The recycling container is located on the right as you drive in from Ridgeview. Simply drive up to the recycling bin and deposit the cans. Please be sure to take your bag, box, or other container home with you since items other than aluminum cans in the bin result in an extra handling fee. Every three or four months, the container is replaced and SBCO reaps the rewards of your recycling efforts.
It should go without saying, but experience has proved otherwise. Do not use this container for chucking out old lawn furniture and building debris. If you have bulky trash to dispose of, go to the Pima County dump or contact Waste Management. Every bit of trash tossed into this container requires an SBCO volunteer to risk life and limb to remove
Last year, SBCO President Steve Groth presented Tri-Community Food Bank CEO Cynthia Chevalley with a check for the $226,647.83 in donations raised during the food drive.
SBCO Annual Food Drive: Fighting Hunger for 24 years
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
This year, SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) is celebrating 25 years of making a difference in local communities. Initially, SBCO focused on providing clothing for local schoolchildren in need. But even in its early days, SBCO expanded its reach into the local communities beyond clothing. The first SBCO annual food drive was held in March 1998. This year, the 24th annual food drive, benefiting the Tri-Community Food Bank (TCFB) in Mammoth, will be held between Feb. 19 and March 19.
TCFB serves needy families living in Mammoth, San Manuel, Oracle, and the Dudleyville/Aravaipa area. Many in these communities are very poor, and the nearest grocery store is 28 miles away. Our community’s donations helped to provide bi-monthly emergency food boxes to 468 households (1,120 people, including 387 children and 298 seniors) for the past calendar year. Each emergency food box provides nine family meals, and TCFB spends $10,000 per month on food purchases. All monetary contributions go directly to grocery purchases and related expenses.
SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch residents collaborate on the annual SBCO Food Drive.
Due to the continued uncertainty surrounding COVID, the 2022 food drive will be limited to monetary contributions made online or with checks. Perhaps in 2023, we will be able to return to donations of food in addition to money.
You can make a donation online using a credit card or write a check. Make your check payable to SBCO Food Drive and write your unit number on the memo line. You can either mail or deliver it to SBCO, 63675 E. SaddleBrooke Blvd., Suite L, Tucson, AZ 85739. Online donations can be made at community-outreach.org using a credit card. You don’t need a PayPal account to make an online donation.
All monetary contributions go directly to grocery purchases and related expenses. SBCO and TCFB are all-volunteer organizations and are IRS 501(c)(3) and AZ non-profit charitable organizations, so donations made to these organizations are tax deductible. Please give generously, so no one goes hungry.
If you would like to volunteer for the food drive or have questions about this event, contact Andrea Stephens in SaddleBrooke at [email protected] or 616-901-6893 or Betty Ryan in SaddleBrooke Ranch at [email protected] or 425-260-4418.
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In addition to many other volunteer activities, Mike and Chris Havnaer serve as annual SBCO Food Drive unit captains.
SBCO Volunteers Use Their Skills to Help Others
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
Mike and Chris Havnaer have served as annual SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) Food Drive unit captains for several years. They also volunteer for SBCO and other organizations, using their time and talents to improve the lives of others.
Mike and Chris bought their home in SaddleBrooke in 2001. “We’re ‘snowbirds,’ or some would say ‘rainbirds,’ because we spend the rest of the year in Seattle.” Mike spent 32 years as a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch, retiring as a senior vice president in 2001. Their first experience volunteering for SBCO was with Kids’ Closet. In addition to being the food drive captains for Unit 12 for several years, they host a charity brunch in their unit, with all admission proceeds being donated to the Tri-Community Food Bank. “In fact,” noted Mike, “our last effort raised almost $5,000.”
Mike and Chris also have volunteered with Catalina Community Services, delivering Meals on Wheels to seniors, providing transportation services, and working in the clothing bank. For many years, Mike has been involved in a jail ministry, serving the inmates at the Pinal County Adult Detention facility in Florence. Chris makes greeting cards for their church and service organizations and has been involved in the organization and planning of their unit’s social activities.
According to Mike, “I find volunteer work to be deeply satisfying. Somewhere along the way I ran across an old adage that seems to be a good definition of volunteerism: Reach out, lift up, give back. Simply knowing that you have helped someone is highly rewarding. Perhaps our world has become too inward focused and selfish, but if we ‘love thy neighbors as ourselves’, we find the idea of serving others to be a natural imperative.”
Mike and Chris find that one of the best qualities of SaddleBrooke is the caring, giving spirit of the community. Volunteering with SBCO offers the opportunity to help sustain this aspect of living here.
Join SaddleBrooke Community Outreach in Celebrating Its Volunteers and 25 Years
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
For 25 years, the mission of SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) has been to provide opportunities for kids to succeed. SBCO programs and grants focus on three things important to the success of children in need: food, clothing, and education. Over the years, the variety of programs we support, as well as the number of children served, has expanded dramatically.
On Monday, April 11, at 3 p.m. in the MountainView Ballroom, SBCO will honor the volunteers and supporters who have made it possible to serve a 100-mile corridor stretching from Catalina to Miami and San Carlos, which includes more than three counties, eight school districts, 17 schools, Head Start programs, and 4,000 youngsters.
It takes a village of committed individuals to impact so many young lives. This event is an opportunity to recognize the contributions of the many SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch residents who have provided SBCO with much-needed assistance of time, talent, and funds. Refreshments (25th birthday cupcakes!), a no-host bar, and special 25th anniversary door prizes will be provided. Attendees will be able to contribute ideas about the future of SBCO, visit with volunteers, and meet members of the current and incoming board of directors. At the event, SBCO members will vote on the slate of officers for 2022-23.
Plan now to join us in celebrating SBCO’s 25 years of making a difference in local communities and the dedication of those who have made SBCO so successful. This event is open to the public, and no reservations are required. Just come on April 11, have fun, and learn more about SBCO’s programs.