JenDelfin

Valentine’s Day is going to be extra sweet on the campus of Bagdad Middle and High School this year. The school’s Peer Assistance and Leadership (PAL) program has asked teachers and staff to write down one thing about each of their students and colleagues that makes that person special. On Feb. 14, PAL members will deliver those hand-written messages with a card that says “Bee My PAL” along with a bee keychain/bag tag to every student, teacher and staff member. The morale-boosting project is one of several done every year by PAL, a program that began nationally [...]

Many public libraries across the country rely on a nonprofit "friends" group that helps with fundraising and covers the cost of programs or services not addressed in a library's official municipal budget. For the Friends of the Paulden Public Library, much of that additional funding comes from selling second-hand books. But what happens if you have no place to warehouse your volumes of Tom Clancy, Sue Grafton or Stephen King? That was a very real concern for Paulden Friends group after it started asking for book donations. The group has a mini "book store" inside the library where books are [...]

January is going to be an exciting time at The Launch Pad. In early 2022, the all-inclusive teen space in Prescott will open the doors of its new facility, a 6,000-square-foot warehouse on 6th Street. The new location will be a "one-stop-shop" for youth, with a coffee café, computer lab, classrooms, dance floor, stage, music production studio, art studio, workshop area, and lots of outdoor space surrounded by a community garden. Teens will be able to come after school and find everything from a quiet nook for doing their homework to a rowdy room for playing games. [...]

Old Town Mission, a Christian faith-in-action outreach charity that has served the Verde Valley for more than 30 years, recently reopened after a four-month remodel that included new bathrooms, flooring and paint. Located in a historic building built in the early 1900s, the Old Town Mission works with community members and partners to provide a food pantry, homemade meals, a homeless resource center complete with showers, breakfast, hygiene items, clothing, blankets/sleeping bags and other necessary things to withstand the year-round outdoor elements, a vision clinic and free legal counsel. In addition, they do several annual outreach events [...]

"I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. " -Whitney Houston Throughout Whitney Houston's hit song, Greatest Love of All, she reminds us how important children are to the success of a community and the future of humanity. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Arizona programs convey valuable life skills that are enriching, educational, entertaining, and interactive while ensuring that their members are having fun. The Clubs focus on academic success by helping to establish productive study habits that include daily homework assistance. Additionally, they help with character development and leadership [...]

Homeless women and children are the most vulnerable in a community. Prescott Area Shelter Services (PASS) provides temporary emergency shelter to women in a facility including a 19-bed dormitory and two additional rooms to serve moms with children (including sons over the age of 12). The shelter contains a community room, a kitchen, four bathrooms, and a conference room equipped with computers. On average, PASS serves between 15 and 20 women and children each night - seven nights a week, 365 days a year. PASS kept its doors open during the COVID crisis and has remained a constant source of [...]

After a challenging 2020, People Who Care completed its 29th year on a very high note.The United Way of Yavapai County partner - which provides non-medical assistance to adults who are no longer able to drive due to age-related or physical limitations - purchased a building for their new headquarters. Thanks to an incredibly generous legacy gift, PWC will move from their Grove Avenue office to their new location in March of 2022.This expansion will help accommodate the dramatic increase in PWC's “Neighbors,” its term for the people who use its services. Since January of this year, PWC has seen a [...]

A nonprofit's strength is the community that supports it. Donors, advocates and volunteers are its beating heart. At the United Way of Yavapai County (UWYC), we are grateful to everyone who Shows Up United, including our amazing Board of Directors. One of our most recent additions to the board is Scott Lewis, a senior lecturer and administrator with the Strategic Leadership Program at Northern Arizona University. This program, offered statewide, is unique in that its students tend to already be in the workplace and are looking to hone their skills as leaders and managers. "In a nutshell, we designed it [...]

The nonprofit has always followed the numbers, and the data has led to its latest initiatives, MO Packs for Kids and MO Packs for Teachers. Manzanita Outreach is all about the logistics. When it comes to food insecurity, the organization's leadership believes there isn't so much a food problem as a distribution problem that requires distribution solutions. Since 2017, the organization has been led by Mike Newcomb, whose background includes extensive expertise in distribution and logistics. That know-how was put to work at Manzanita Outreach, resulting in pop-up "food sharing" events throughout Verde Valley. These events have been strategically scheduled [...]