Last year’s SBCO Home Tour included the fully remodeled home of Jay Kennedy and Doug Smith. (Photo by Kenya Glenn/K.C. Creative Designs)
SBCO Home Tour Tickets Available on March 15
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
The annual SaddleBrooke Community Outreach Home Tour will be held on March 29, and you won’t want to miss this opportunity to see extensive changes as well as budget-friendly transformations your neighbors have made in their homes. This tour of six remodeled houses is designed to show you changes that may inspire your own home improvements.
This event helps SBCO inform the SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch communities about its food, clothing enrichment, and educational programs for children in nearby communities. It also helps SBCO recruit the volunteers needed to make these programs work. Tour attendees can choose between a morning (9 a.m. to noon) or afternoon (1 to 4 p.m.) tour on Saturday, March 29. During those three hours, you’ll be able to visit all of the homes. In addition to viewing the latest interior design, you’ll see smart bathroom and kitchen makeovers, casita additions, revised floor plans, and renovated outdoor living spaces.
Tickets for this much-anticipated annual event go on sale online on Monday, March 3 at community-outreach.org. In-person sales, check or cash only, begin at 9 a.m. on Monday, March 24 in the SBCO office, Suite L in the SaddleBrooke business center on SaddleBrooke Blvd. With two tour times, 600 tickets will be available. When tickets are purchased, buyers will need to indicate which showing (morning or afternoon) they will attend. Tickets cost $25 per person and are sold only to SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch residents.
Call your friends and make plans before the tickets sell out!
If you would like to serve as a docent in one of the 2025 tour homes for the morning or afternoon session, please contact Lisa Urban at [email protected]. Docents receive free admission to the tour.
Volunteers for the SaddleBrooke Ranch Adopt Program delivered holiday brightening gifts to 64 families in Oracle, Hayden, and Winkelman.
Sweet 16th Year, Sweet Holidays for Lots of Families
Kim Schweitzer
For the 16th year, SaddleBrooke Ranch has participated in the “Adopt Program” providing holiday gifts to our neighbors to the north.
This year, we were asked to support not one, but two schools, Oracle’s Mountain Vista and Hayden-Winkelman School District. It seemed like a monumental task, but with the help of a great team and amazingly generous residents, we were able to make the holidays brighter for lots of kids, who might not have gotten a gift for the holidays.
Our residents purchased gifts for 98 people from 27 families in the Oracle School District and 98 people and 37 families in the Hayden-Winkelman School District. With an average of three gift boxes per child, we estimated that we packed 538 gifts into bags and brought them to two different schools.
Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who loaned their garages, packed, checked, schlepped, created signs, decorated our beautiful tree, and did whatever was needed: Karen Adamson, Annie Anderson, Pat Albu, Carl Barthole, Mina Carlson, Susan Hastings, Natasha Hlebechuk, Vida Kaczmarek, Bob Lamar, Lisa, Leslie, Cat Nasca, Stephanie Pigman, Shelley Swircek, Julie Smith, and Arlene Tonges. (Please forgive us if we have forgotten someone.) We appreciate that SBCO President Laura Pauli and her husband, Don Cain, are always there to help!
Happy New Year to our wonderful neighbors!
Margaret Thompson has been an SBCO volunteer since 2006, helping to ensure kids and volunteers have a great Kids’ Closet experience.
The Joy of Working with Children Motivates SBCO Volunteer
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
In May 2006, Margaret Thompson and her husband, Marshall, moved to SaddleBrooke from Tempe, Ariz., which had been their home for 34 years. They are the parents of two and have six grandchildren. For 35 years, Margaret was a dental hygienist in both Tempe and Tucson, but she also has taught swimming lessons to young children since 1974.
After arriving in SaddleBrooke, Margaret read an article in the newspaper about SaddleBrooke Community Outreach’s programs to provide local children with opportunities to succeed. The chance to work with children prompted her to become an SBCO volunteer in the fall of 2006.
Margaret’s volunteer work with SBCO began with her serving as a “dresser” at Kids’ Closet. This is essentially a personal shopper who helps an assigned student find clothing that he or she likes and fits properly and also makes sure the student receives all of the items to which they are entitled, including toiletries, books, underwear, socks, shoes, T-shirts, and depending upon the season, shorts or pants, sweatshirt or jacket, hat and gloves. Although Margaret continues to serve as a dresser and fits shoes on the students, for the past 16 years she has scheduled the volunteers working on Mondays at Kids’ Closet. For the past three years, this role has expanded to scheduling volunteers for all three days Kids’ Closet is open during a session: Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. This is a big job involving approximately 320 volunteers. However, Margaret says that she finds it most gratifying to work with the kids and navigate the volunteers’ schedules each week. In addition, she annually distributes the SaddleBrooke Source Book to 236 homes (Robson donates funds to SBCO in exchange for volunteers delivering the directory).
In addition to her volunteer work for SBCO, for five years Margaret sewed dresses for “Dress A Girl,” a program that provides cotton dresses to girls living in underdeveloped countries. She also recently signed on as a volunteer with Senior Village.
When asked about a memorable moment from her volunteer work, Margaret responded, “A little boy came to Kids’ Closet for the first time and became very anxious as we approached the checkout counter. I asked him what was wrong and big tears came to his eyes and he said, ‘I don’t have any money to buy these clothes.’ I told him there was no cost to him, that they were a gift from all the people at SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch.”
Margaret says the benefit she receives from being a volunteer is “The joy of working with the kids and the feeling of fulfillment when the day is done. I love being able to give back and being involved in our community.”
To anyone considering becoming an SBCO volunteer, Margaret says, “There are so many areas that SBCO has to offer people who want to be involved in their community. The stories of how Kids’ Closet and the Golden Goose Thrift Shop started are a true statement of how people who want to help and give back can make such a difference in the lives of their immediate community and the surrounding areas. So many people in SaddleBrooke have had amazing careers and continue to have skills they can use here in retirement.”
If you are interested in becoming an SBCO volunteer, visit community-outreach.org/volunteers and register.
Annual Pizza Party Celebrates SBCO Scholarship Students
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
Every December the SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) education committee invites its college scholarship students and their guests to a pizza party. The event, held at Kids’ Closet in Mammoth, is an opportunity for SBCO to recognize the students’ academic achievements and for the students to visit with their education committee liaison and other students. The event is timed to coincide with the students’ winter break when many come home to visit family for the holidays.
This year, 42 students registered to attend the party, with many joined by family members and friends. In addition to the students and their guests, the event was attended by members of the SBCO education committee and their spouses and scholarship endowment fund donors. In attendance were two graduate scholarship recipients: Angelita Casillas and Clarissa Gonzalez. Angelita graduated from University of Arizona in 2023 with a B.A. in political science and is now obtaining her master’s in public administration. Clarissa received a B.A. in social work and is now working on her master’s degree in the same field at Northern Arizona University. Both scholarship recipients talked about how important their undergraduate and graduate scholarships from SBCO had been to their academic success. In addition to the money received, the students also appreciated the support provided by their education committee liaison as they adjusted to campus life and the academic demands of college.
Darlene Carlson, who sponsored a Women in Science scholarship for a graduating high school senior in 2024, spoke about her desire to foster future scientists through her philanthropy. Darlene explained how when she graduated from high school in a class of 30, women were given no guidance about career opportunities in scientific fields. But despite this, she went on to do research for 3M and after college helped develop VHS tape. She plans to continue funding the scholarship in 2025. The first scholarship recipient, Ann Mary Terrence, also attended the party.
Non-cash Contributions Can Benefit You and the SBCO Scholarship Endowment Fund
Greg Jones
The SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) Scholarship Endowment Fund was founded in 2019 with the mission of providing financial support and encouragement for students in the Copper Corridor pursuing post-grad education opportunities. Donations are vital to ensuring we can continue to provide scholarships. Together with our donors we are creating a lasting change and a brighter future for students in our area.
One of the ways you can make a difference is through a non-cash contribution. In addition to enhancing the chances of obtaining a higher education for those less fortunate, non-cash contributions can provide significant tax benefits for you. Such donations may help you avoid paying capital gains taxes. When giving such a donation, it is important to know the rules for claiming these deductions. They are:
* The total deduction is normally capped at 20% to 50% of adjusted gross income, depending on the type of property donated and the recipient charity.
* When donating appreciated stock, to claim the full market value it must be held for more than one year. If held for one year or less, the deduction is limited to the cost basis of the stock.
* For donations of real estate, jewelry, or other hard assets, an appraisal is required. The appraisal must be made within 60 days of the donation and include comprehensive information on the property as well as the fair market value. The appraisal must be prepared and certified by a qualified appraiser.
If you are looking for a way to help disadvantaged students in our area obtain a higher education, consider donating an appreciated asset to the SBCO Scholarship Endowment Fund. It is prudent to consult with your tax advisor about such donations given the complexities of IRS rules. Your advisor can ensure you receive the maximum deduction.