Our 17th Year of Brightening the Holidays for Lots of Families
Kim Schweitzer
For the 17th year, SaddleBrooke Ranch has participated in SaddleBrooke Community Outreach’s “Holiday Adopt Program” providing holiday gifts to our neighbors to the north. This year, thanks to the generosity of SaddleBrooke Ranch and SaddleBrooke residents, funds were raised to purchase gifts for children and adults living in Oracle, San Manuel, Mammoth, Hayden, and Winkelman, plus children living on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. In all, the program helped 779 people have a much brighter holiday season. In addition, the residents of SaddleBrooke HOA2 were encouraged to donate new pajamas (infant through adult sizes), which resulted in 69 pairs being delivered to the San Carlos Reservation.
This year, like last, SaddleBrooke Ranch supported both Oracle’s Mountain Vista School and Hayden-Winkelman School District. It may seem 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 many children who might not have gotten a gift for the holidays.
Our residents purchased gifts for 72 people from 28 families in Oracle and 159 people from 57 families in Hayden Winkelman. A caravan of four cars filled with gifts drove to Oracle, while a packed Kids’ Closet van, followed by another four cars drove up to Hayden Winkelman. In total, the SaddleBrooke Ranch crew delivered 695 packages to bring holiday cheer to 231 people in 85 families!
Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who loaned their garages, packed, checked, schlepped, created signs, decorated our beautiful tree, and did whatever was needed. It takes a very generous and committed village to brighten a child’s holiday and both SaddleBrooke Ranch and SaddleBrooke are special places where people really want to help others. Thank you. And may your new year be filled with wonderful moments spent with friends and family.
Myriam Barthole and Kim Schweitzer, Holiday Adopt Program Co-Chairs
SBCO Helps Feed Students During Winter Holiday Break
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
Many students in the Mammoth/San Manuel Unified School District receive free breakfast and lunch when they attend school. When the extended winter holiday break rolls around, some of these children are in jeopardy of not having enough good quality food to eat since they cannot receive two-meals-a-day, five-days-a-week at school.
The school counsellor identified 30 students who required extra food during their holiday break and prepared a list of the desired foods, along with the quantities needed. SaddleBrooke Ranch resident Anthony Signorelli led a team that placed the food order with Fry’s. On Dec. 13, the team picked up the food and organized food bags for each student. Then the bags were delivered to the school prior to the start of the holiday break on Dec. 22.
SBCO recognizes that good nutrition is vital to a child’s growth and development. The need for nutritious food isn’t controlled by a school’s holiday calendar and we are pleased to be able to help fill this gap for local youngsters. Next year the team plans to purchase all perishables for this project when the Thanksgiving Baskets for Oracle are assembled. Those non-perishable items will then be stored and combined with perishables for delivery in December, prior to the start of the school’s winter holiday break.
Despite a rainstorm in 2025, food delivered to the MountainView Clubhouse parking lot for the annual Food Drive was received by an army of volunteers that checked the expiration dates and then sorted, boxed, and loaded it on trucks for delivery to Tri-Community Food Bank in Mammoth.
Help Prevent Hunger—Support the Annual SBCO Food Drive
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
The 28th annual SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) Food Drive on March 14 will gather donations of food and money to support the Tri-Community Food Bank (TCFB) based in Mammoth. TCFB serves needy families living in Mammoth, San Manuel, Oracle, and the Dudleyville/Aravaipa area. Last year, despite a major rainstorm, SaddleBrooke and SaddleBrooke Ranch residents donated 9,500 pounds of food and $142,080 to the Food Drive. TCFB meets a real need in the Tri-Community area, where 20% of households live below the poverty level and 10% are below 50% of the poverty level. Every increase in the cost of gasoline, food, and utilities has a significant impact on families already struggling to make ends meet.
SBCO will be collecting monetary contributions online or with checks from March 2 through March 14. Online donations can be made at the SBCO website: community-outreach.org.
Checks should be made payable to SaddleBrooke Community Outreach with your unit number and either SaddleBrooke or SaddleBrooke Ranch on the memo line. Checks can be delivered to Food Drive Unit Captains or mailed/hand delivered to the SBCO office at 63675 E. SaddleBrooke Blvd, Suite L., Tucson, AZ 85739 (in the SaddleBrooke business complex). Office hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
All monetary donations go directly to grocery purchases and related expenses. SBCO and TCFB are both all-volunteer organizations and are IRS 501(c)(3) and AZ non-profit charitable organizations, so donations made to these organizations are tax deductible.
On Saturday, March 14, food donations need to be placed at the curb for pick up by 8 a.m. Each unit will be given a list of suggested food items to donate based on TCFB’s needs. Food donations will be taken to the MountainView Clubhouse parking lot for sorting, boxing, and delivery to TCFB.
If you live in SaddleBrooke and would like to volunteer for the Food Drive, please contact Andrea Stephens at andrea.stephens@community-outreach.org. SaddleBrooke Ranch residents should contact Marian Bianchini at marian@community-outreach.org.
SBCO 2026 Home Tour Tickets Available on February 14
Nancy McCluskey-Moore
The annual SaddleBrooke Community Outreach Remodeled Home Tour will be held on March 21 and you won’t want to miss this opportunity to see extensive changes as well as budget-friendly transformations that have been made in SaddleBrooke 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 21. 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 skillfully redesigned bathrooms and kitchens, casita additions, revised floor plans, and renovated outdoor living spaces.
Tickets for this much-anticipated annual event go on sale online on Saturday, Feb 14, at community-outreach.org. In-person sales, check or cash only, begin at 9 a.m. on Monday, March 16, in the SBCO office at Suite L in the SaddleBrooke business center on SaddleBrooke Blvd. There will be 300 tickets available for each time slot. 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 2026 tour homes for the morning or afternoon session, please email Jody Snodgrass at jodys@msn.com. Docents receive free admission to the tour.
Amber Walden, Principal of Mammoth San Manuel PreK-12 Schools, told Pizza Party attendees about how SBCO scholarships have helped local students reach their academic and career goals.
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, 32 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 for a total of 85 attendees.
Two scholarship students, Aracely Aguirre and Amaya Sommer, each spoke about how their SBCO scholarship has been important to their academic success. In addition to the money SBCO provides, their education committee liaison offered support as they adjusted to campus life and the academic demands of college. Amaya Sommer is currently attending UofA and Aracely Aguirre is a Central Arizona College student. She will take this spring semester off to prepare for applying to nursing school.
Amber Walden, Principal of Mammoth San Manuel PreK-12 Schools, also spoke to the attendees. “I truly appreciate SBCO for their scholarship contributions to San Manuel High School and all the students from surrounding districts. These scholarship funds make a big impact for our students, helping them with their housing costs, their college books, resources, and supplies. Some students have been able to use these resources for transportation. These are the items that often get overlooked and really help make a difference in a student’s success while they attend college.”