Spring sprouts raised by students indoors were planted in the garden.
SBCO Enrichment Grant Supports Innovative Ray Farm to School Program
Jennifer Cude
In fall 2021, Ray Unified School District (USD) gave me the opportunity to build a gardening and sustainability program at an unused campus location. I was able to serve about 40 to 50 students through classes in the Ray Learning Garden that taught practical applications of soil and water conservation, life skills, and gardening. SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) has been helping us meet our financial needs ever since, including a $5,000 grant this past spring.
We have just completed our first semester with junior high students fully immersed in project-based learning in the context of agriculture. In December of 2024, we piloted a program with 25 students who learned math, science, English, and social studies, all with direct instruction and daily opportunities to apply what they learned. Students learned to build and maintain gardens, care for farm animals, support nature, and conserve soil and water. In addition, they learned valuable life skills. Students were selected for the pilot program based on interest, with roughly half of our students choosing to enter the “farm school.” We could immediately see the benefits in the attitudes and interests of our students. Parents remarked that their students were excited and talked about what they had done at school each day.
In March of 2025, Ray USD opted to include the rest of our junior high students in the Farm to School Program, because the needs of our remaining students were great and the results were so positive–we didn’t want to leave anyone out!
In terms of academics, our students are receiving both direct and indirect instruction. Direct instruction includes teacher led instruction, online tutoring geared to individual needs, and AI instruction that is very specific to individual gaps in learning. Students receive indirect instruction as they practice skills learned in math and science both in online platforms, but also in real-life settings.
Outside of academics, students have opportunities to learn life skills in a variety of areas, including cooking, personal finance, animal care, and growing food. For example, we hatched chicks and students were tasked with caring for these chicks until they were old enough to be sent to farms elsewhere. In the process, they learned about chicken life cycles, being responsible for the daily needs of animals, and even the need to find ways to protect our animals from predators.
The program’s success has led us to plan for future growth, including:
* The inclusion of 6th through 8th graders, along with a few high school students—a total of more than 60 students
* The design and building of a greenhouse and barn structure, with the collaboration of the Ray Industrial Technology program
* Accommodation of a veterinary tech program for high school students
* Provision of corrals and pens to support local 4-H projects
* A poultry and egg business, utilizing innovative rotational grazing with other livestock, that will bring income and teach students about running a business.
We greatly appreciate the financial support of SBCO that enables Ray School District to offer our students engaging, innovative ways to learn valuable academic and life skills.
In 2024, Walk for Kids participants enjoyed sunny weather and camaraderie on their trip around the Ridgeview Blvd. loop.
Get Ready for the 27th Annual SBCO Walk for Kids!
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
Each fall SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) hosts the Walk for Kids. In 2025, the Walk will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 8. This signature SBCO event helps support our food, clothing, enrichment and education programs benefiting youngsters along a 100+ mile corridor from Catalina to Globe. Each year SBCO’s programs touch the lives of approximately 4,000 students by supplying them with new clothes, backpacks filled with school supplies, college scholarships, contributions to Tri-Community Food Bank, and financial support for a wide range of enrichment activities.
Online registration for the 2025 Walk for Kids will begin on Monday, Aug. 25, at community-outreach.org. The registration fee of $35 per adult and $10 per child (ages 6 through 18) covers the cost of a t-shirt, snacks and drinks.
If you choose not to register online, in–person registration begins on Tuesday, Sept. 2, and runs through Nov. 7, every Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the SBCO office at Suite L in the SaddleBrooke Business Plaza on SaddleBrooke Blvd. Registrations also will be accepted the day of the event; however, please register by Sept. 26 to ensure that you receive a t-shirt in your size.
Talk to your friends and neighbors about forming a Walk for Kids team! Walking with your pals while supporting SBCO is a great way to spend a Saturday morning.
A Legacy Donation of Real Estate Can Benefit Future Students
Greg Jones
Donations to support college scholarships have a powerful impact on students’ lives. These contributions, whether large or small, help remove financial barriers and open doors that would otherwise remain closed. For many students living in the 100+ mile long Copper Corridor, which stretches from Catalina north to Globe, scholarships are the only way for them to access education beyond high school. These opportunities can transform their career prospects and life trajectories. One way to help these undergraduate and postgraduate students is by making a legacy donation to the SaddleBrooke Community Outreach Scholarship Endowment Fund.
Legacy giving typically involves including a bequest in a will or trust. One type of bequest involves one’s home, rental property, or other real estate. Donating real estate to a charity at death—especially via a trust—can bypass probate, reduce administrative complexity, speed up the settlement process, and provide tax advantages, all of which simplify estate settlement for your beneficiaries and executors.
When real estate is left directly to a charity through a will or, more efficiently, through a trust, it can reduce the number of assets that must go through probate. Probate is often time-consuming, expensive, and public. Using a trust to transfer real estate to a charity allows the property to pass outside of probate, streamlining the process and avoiding court intervention.
By designating a charity as the beneficiary of real estate, the executor or trustee does not have to manage, appraise, or sell the property for distribution among multiple heirs. This can eliminate disputes and the need for complex negotiations or sales, especially when the real estate is difficult to divide or manage.
Charitable bequests made through trusts or direct beneficiary designations can result in faster transfer of the property. The charity typically works directly with the estate or trustee to accept the property, reducing delays for other beneficiaries and expediting the overall estate settlement.
Donating real estate to a qualified charity at death also can result in an estate tax deduction, reducing the taxable value of the estate and potentially lowering or eliminating estate taxes. This simplifies tax filings and can reduce the need for liquidating other assets to pay taxes.
Leaving real estate to a charity removes ambiguity about who receives the property, preventing conflicts among heirs and ensuring your wishes are carried out efficiently.
For more information on making a legacy donation to the SBCO Scholarship Endowment Fund call the SBCO office at 520-825-3302 or email sbco.endowment@community-outreach.org.
The 2025 SBCO Home Tour included the home of Julia Vigil. The kitchen features glossy flat panel cabinetry accented by lighting above and below. (Photography by Kenya Glenn/K.C. Creative Designs)
Is Your House a Candidate for the Annual SBCO Home Tour?
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
Each year SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) hosts a tour of remodeled homes designed to show SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch residents changes that may inspire their own home improvements.
This event helps SBCO inform both communities about its food, clothing, enrichment, and educational programs for children in nearby communities. It also helps SBCO raise funds and 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. The 2026 tour will be held on Saturday, March 21. During those three hours, attendees will be able to visit all six homes. In addition to viewing the latest interior design, they’ll see smart bathroom and kitchen makeovers, casita additions, revised floor plans and renovated outdoor living spaces.
If you have recently remodeled your house—or purchased a remodeled house—and would like to have it included as a candidate for the 2026 SBCO Home Tour, please contact the Home Tour Committee Chair, Mary Hojnacki, at hojnackimary@gmail.com.