Being prepared is advantageous in many situations. Rotary Club of Sedona Red Rocks is making certain that area students and teachers are prepared for a successful start to the coming school year with the necessary classroom supplies.
Based on request lists provided by principals and administrators at Sedona Charter School, West Sedona School and Camp Verde’s high school, middle school and elementary school, Red Rocks Rotary invested nearly $6,000 in classroom supplies for use by both teachers and students. The requested items included crayons, pencils, colored pencils, dry-erase markers, Sharpie brand markers, spiral notebooks, glue sticks, composition books, pens, erasers and disinfecting wipes.
Supplies were divided among the five schools taking into account the size of the student body and the numbers of teachers and other support staff. With far-and-away the largest campus with a student enrollment of 800 plus 41 teachers, Camp Verde Elementary School received almost $2,000 in supplies. The other schools in this year’s project received approximately $1,000 in supplies each.
A portion of what Camp Verde Elementary received included 50 bags of supplies for students who arrive at school without the basic necessities. Red Rocks Rotarians worked assembly line style at the club’s July 15 meeting to fill each bag with eight essential items.
Club member Donna Hawk, the project coordinator, stated that all of the supplies were delivered to the various campuses by July 16. “Since Rotary Club of Sedona Red Rocks chartered in 2002, its focus has been local youth-oriented projects and programs.” said Donna.
According to Donna, Red Rocks Rotary created an Endowment Fund in 2002 for the purpose of perpetually benefitting young people and their families in the Verde Valley. The Fund’s parameters allowed earnings to be distributed for the first time this year. Donna continued that “these monies have given the club the ability to increase and enhance its charitable giving.”
Since July 1, the start of the club’s fiscal year, in addition to the $6,000 dedicated to the school supply project, Red Rocks Rotary has contributed locally to the following:
$2,000 to Wheel Fun that brings no-cost mountain bike programs to rural schools.
$2,000 to Science Vortex that sponsors the annual SciTech Festival that brings a month of free STEM events to over 1500 participants across the Verde Valley.
$1,500 to Verde Valley Imagination Library that provides free monthly books to kids ages 0 – 5.
$1,000 to Sedona Oak Creek Unified School District to assist with the needs of its low-income students.
$5,000 in Vocational Scholarships to two graduating high school seniors.
Additionally, the club has expanded its global gifting with $3,000 going to a Rotary-sponsored microcredit program that makes small business loans in Sonora Mexico; $4,000 to The Rotary Foundation dedicated to the worldwide eradication of polio; $3,000 to Shelter Box USA an international disaster relief organization; and, $1,500 that will be matched by a Rotary District 5495 grant for a total of $3,000 in water filters for the Masai people in Tanzania.
Assistant Principal Hayley Brewer (L) and Principal Jaclyn Campbell (R) receive boxes of supplies for Camp Verde Elementary School.