Prior to the start of the 2022 SBCO Walk for Kids, Janis Botai of Vital Moves led the walkers in a warm-up session.
Last Call for SBCO Walk for Kids Registrations
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
The Walk will begin with a warm-up session at 8:40 a.m., followed by the walk at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28. This signature SBCO event helps support our food, clothing, enrichment, and education programs benefiting youngsters along a 100+-mile corridor from Catalina to the San Carlos Indian Reservation and the Miami school system. SBCO now also offers scholarships to students in Globe. Annually, SBCO touches the lives of approximately 4,000 students through new clothes, backpacks filled with school supplies, college scholarships, contributions to Tri-Community Food Bank, and financial support for a wide range of educational enrichment activities.
Online registration for the 2023 Walk for Kids is available at www.community-outreach.org. The registration fee of $30 per adult and $15 per child (ages 6 through 18) covers the cost of a T-shirt, snacks, and drinks.
In-person registration began on Tuesday, Sept. 5, and runs through Oct. 27, every Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the SBCO office at Suite L in the Minit Market plaza. Registrations will also be accepted on the day of the event.
T-shirts will be available for pick-up at the SBCO office between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 23, through Friday, Oct. 27.
It’s Time to Shred!
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
Are outdated paper files taking up valuable space in your home? Gather those no-longer-needed materials into boxes or bags and bring them to the Shredding and Recycling Event on Saturday, Nov. 11, from 9 a.m. to noon (or until the truck is full). The event, hosted by Long Realty-Golder Ranch, SaddleBrooke Community Outreach, and the Beacon Foundation, will be held in the SaddleBrooke One parking lot next to the bocce ball courts.
To protect your privacy, all documents are put into containers at the drop-off site. The containers are locked and transported to the Beacon facility for shredding. In addition to documents, only computer hard drives, which may still be inside computers or laptops, will be accepted for donation/recycling.
For each bag or box of items delivered for shredding or recycling, please bring $5 or five cans of food. All donations of cash or food will benefit the Tri-Community Food Bank and the Beacon Group.
For more information, please contact Long Realty at 15250 N. Oracle Road, #110 (in the Bashas’ complex) or call 520-665-4200.
Gifts are wrapped, bagged, and stored until SaddleBrooke volunteers deliver them to San Manuel and the San Carlos Reservation.
Support Programs to Brighten the Holiday Season
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
Since 2007, the SaddleBrooke Community Outreach Adopt-a-Family and Adopt-a-Child program has provided hand-picked and carefully wrapped Christmas gifts for local families and Apache children on the San Carlos Reservation. In recent years, the program has grown to annually assist about 90 families and 257 Apache children. SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch residents provide the money and volunteer services required to make this program such a great success.
The SaddleBrooke Adopt-a-Family Program focuses on providing gifts to families whose children are enrolled in the San Manuel-Mammoth Unified School District and Head Start. Several units within SaddleBrooke have been a part of these projects for many years. We hope to have additional units join in this sharing opportunity in 2023. If you, your group, or your unit wishes to adopt a family or families, please contact Kim Seales at [email protected]. Volunteers are also needed to help shop and wrap gifts for delivery. Likewise, contact Maggie DeBlock at [email protected] if you prefer to adopt an Apache child or children as part of the Adopt-a-Child program. In addition, volunteers are needed for loading and unloading the wrapped gifts.
As always, SaddleBrooke residents are encouraged to donate to the program. Since SBCO is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (tax ID #86-0843458), all contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Please contribute by Nov. 15.
It is important that you specify either “Adopt-a-Family” or “Adopt-a-Child” on your donation.
There are three ways to contribute:
1. By credit card online at SBCO (community-outreach.org). Click the “Adopt-a-Family” or “Adopt-a-Child” button on the lower center of the page, then click “Click Here to Donate Online” and fill in the information on the donation page (including your unit number).
2. Send or take a check payable to SBCO (with “Adopt-a-Family” or “Adopt-a-Child” and your unit noted on the check) directly to the SBCO office at 6367 E. SaddleBrooke Blvd., Suite L, Tucson, AZ 85739 (in the SaddleBrooke Business Complex).
3. If you have a representative who is coordinating the Adopt-a-Family or Adopt-a-Child program for your unit, you may give the check to them.
Leave a Lasting Legacy Through Scholarship Endowment Fund
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
For more than 25 years, SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) has been providing students living in the Copper Corridor, an area that stretches more than 100 miles from Catalina to Globe, with opportunities to succeed. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, unemployment in these communities is significantly above both the national and state averages. Of the 15 schools served by SBCO, all are Title I schools, meaning at least 40% of the students come from low-income families. In some Copper Corridor schools, that figure is as high as 90%. Education beyond high school is the best way to break this cycle of generational poverty.
Since 2001, SBCO has been granting two- and four-year college scholarships to deserving students. A rigorous evaluation process is applied to select students to receive scholarships of $3,600 per year for four-year degrees and $1,800 per year for two-year programs. Annually, SBCO allocates some of its general fund to granting new scholarships and to supporting the scholarships granted in prior years. This spring, SBCO awarded 52 new scholarships, 35 for four-year degrees and 17 for two-year degrees.
In 2019, in order to fund more scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students without taking money from other SBCO programs, the board of directors established a scholarship endowment fund. Only the interest earned on donations is used to fund scholarships. This allows donors to provide scholarship assistance to local students for generations to come.
This year the interest from the Scholarship Endowment Fund was used to grant three one-time $4,000 or $5,000 grants to graduate students accepted into criminal justice, occupational therapy, and clinical psychology programs.
If you would like to help future students receive a college education, please consider donating to the SBCO Scholarship Endowment Fund. All contributions must be made payable to the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona (CFSA) and designated for SBCO Endowment. (CFSA’s tax ID is 94-2681765.) A minimum contribution of $5,000 is required. (Consult your tax advisor for potential benefits.) You can contribute by:
• Mailing a personal check directly to CFSA made payable to CFSA and including the SBCO Scholarship Endowment Fund in the memo line.
• Arranging for a distribution from your IRA to CFSA for the SBCO Scholarship Endowment Fund.
• Including CFSA and the SBCO Scholarship Endowment Fund as a beneficiary in your trust or estate plan.
To donate noncash contributions (e.g., stocks, securities, real estate, autos) please email [email protected] for assistance.
Send contributions to:
The SBCO Scholarship Endowment Fund
Community Foundation for Southern Arizona
5049 E. Broadway, Suite 201
Tucson, AZ 85711
For more information, please send an email to [email protected] or call the SBCO office at 520-825-3302.