Lending a helping hand
Central Arizona Project donates school supplies to Hohokam
Central Arizona Project employee delivers a truckload of supplies to Hohokam.
The Central Arizona Project has been the driving force in giving Hohokam Middle School some much-needed school supplies.
CAP unloaded a truck full of supplies on Aug. 20 to a welcoming crowd at 7400 S. Settler Road that included the furry, yellow school mascot, the Hohokam Hawk.
The truck held backpacks, shoes, pens, pencils, paper, erasers, notebooks, colored pencils, binders, uniforms and toiletries. Cases of water and $170 in cash also were handed out, plus supplies for teachers.
CAP has been giving Hohokam employee-donated supplies for five years, creating a partnership with the school that resulted in Hohokam giving CAP a hand-produced tile mural for its Tucson satellite office. A former Hohokam art student, Cynthia Moran, created the 4-by-8 foot mural three years ago in a rainbow of colors depicting the CAP canal running across part of Arizona. She was a student of art teacher John Parky, who still teaches at Hohokam.
"Hohokam has been very welcoming and interested in a partnership and building a relationship, and not just for school supplies," said Vicky Campo, a CAP internal communications representative, who drove here from her Phoenix office for the presentation.
"This is good because a lot of kids need the stuff," said eighth-grader Valintyn Abaraca, who peered inside the boxes as they came off the truck. "Some people are losing money because the price of gas is going up, so this helps."
Central Arizona Project
CAP is a 336-mile-long system that annually brings about 1.5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water to its customers—cities, businesses, agriculture and Indian communities—in Pima, Pinal and Maricopa counties. An acre-foot of water is about 326,000 gallons.
CAP has 460 employees from Lake Havasu City to Tucson with headquarters in Phoenix. A satellite office is located in north Tucson.
Seventh-grader Kevin Samaniego said, "This stuff is really good for us because we can use it in school. We appreciate all the help."
The boys' classmates, eighth-grader Robert Hines and seventh-grader Anthony Arevalo, also helped unload supplies.
Principal John Michel said he values the school's partnership with CAP. "Student recipients of CAP donations exhibit a sense of pride when uniform donations are available," he said. "CAP donations help students complete in-class presentations and homework."
A great deal of the supplies go into Counselor Julie Wanat's "magic closet." She sorts the items on shelves, dispensing supplies to children who need them. "We don't want the kids to worry about supplies," she said. "We don't want to have obstacles to learning here. We know that having these things changes lives. I feel like Santa Claus out here. I love my job."