SaddleBrooke Community Outreach Happenings – June 2025

SBCO Scholarship Student Brooke Kelley Is Breaking Barriers

Kathie Marshall

You typically don’t see a plethora of females in construction careers, but the times they are a-changin. According to a 2023 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), women currently make up around 10.8 % of the construction workforce in the United States, although this number is increasing, with women in management roles accounting for a larger percentage of the female presence in the industry.

As a member of the SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) Scholarship Committee, I am proud to be a liaison to some of SBCO’s scholarship recipients. One notable student is Brooke Kelley, who is a graduate of Ray High School and has completed her second year at Arizona State University in construction management. Her grades are stellar; she maintains a 3.9 GPA while taking difficult and challenging classes. Her parents are proud of her accomplishments, and I am equally impressed.

Brooke is a young woman on a mission. Her interest in construction careers was piqued during her first year at ASU by a professor who encouraged her to consider a career in construction management. She had prior knowledge of careers in construction—her grandfather was a general contractor. When it was time to declare a major, she understood that she wanted a degree that had excellent job prospects, so she decided on a major in construction management, with a focus on project management. According to Brooke, “The decision to go into construction was a leap of faith for me but I grew to love it, as I put myself out there. Talking and interacting with my peers grew my love for the profession.”

Back in my day, it never occurred to me to pursue a career in construction management, so I asked her if many of her classmates are female. She refuted the old stereotype by telling me that there are a surprising number of female students in her classes, and they are more than just classmates. They support each other and have become friends.

I smiled when she told me that her favorite class was Heavy Construction Equipment. When not studying or completing school projects, she enjoys extracurricular activities such as: fencing, Dragon Boat racing on the Tempe Town Lake, and activities with the ASU construction clubs.

This summer Brooke landed an internship with the prestigious Whiting-Turner Contracting Company in Phoenix. She will gain valuable hands-on experience in managing construction projects. Thanks to her drive, hard work, and the help of a four-year scholarship from SaddleBrooke Community Outreach, Brooke Kelley is assured of a bright future!

SaddleBrooke Community Outreach serves students living in the “Copper Corridor” where SBCO began awarding two- and four-year college scholarships in 2001. Scholarships are awarded based on grades, community service and financial need.

SBCO Awards 41 Undergraduate College Scholarships to Local Students

Nancy McCluskey-Moore

Each year the SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) Scholarship Committee receives applications for scholarships from high school seniors located throughout the Copper Corridor in Arizona. After the applications are received, Committee members evaluate each student’s financial circumstances, high school grades and GPA, activities, essays about personal and professional goals, and letters of recommendation. Committee members then conduct in-person interviews and use all of these criteria to select scholarship recipients. This year the Committee has selected 41 deserving students to be awarded undergraduate scholarships. Thirty of the scholarships are for four-year degree programs; 11 are for two-year degree programs and vocational schools.

Scholarships are also being awarded to graduate students accepted into programs. These graduate scholarships are financed from the earnings from the SBCO Scholarship Endowment Fund and are awarded as one-time grants. This year these grants are for $5,000 each to two deserving students. The Committee has also chosen two additional graduate students to receive scholarships of $3,600 each that will be funded from the Scholarship budget.

Currently, students attending two-year colleges receive $1,800 per year, while those attending four-year institutions receive $3,600 per year. Each student needs to earn a minimum 2.0 GPA each semester, while registered as a full-time student, completing a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester. The scholarship continues until the two- or four-year degree is completed. Often these students have other scholarships or grants that cover their tuition, and the SBCO scholarship assists them with room and board and other school-related expenses so that they get the maximum benefit from their scholarships. When a student pursuing a two-year degree completes the required coursework, he/she may pursue additional funding to complete the remaining two years of a four-year degree program.

Members of the Committee are assigned to be liaisons to the scholarship recipients, where they serve as advocates, sounding boards, and advisors as students tackle the myriad challenges involved in completing a post-high school degree.

SBCO Recognizes Marilyn Christensen with a Lifetime Achievement Award

Nancy McCluskey-Moore

Twenty years is a long time in anyone’s life. Now consider that each year SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) bestows the Lifetime Achievement Award on a volunteer who has provided 20 years of service to the organization. Two decades of continuous volunteer service to a local charitable organization is a very significant commitment to service. In 2024-25, two special people received this recognition: Marilyn Christensen and Jeanette Wollinka.

Marilyn Christiansen and her husband, Marshall, moved to SaddleBrooke from Tualatin, Ore., in October 1998. Prior to moving here, Marilyn had been a teacher for special needs high school students for 28 years. At a social event in their unit, a neighbor told them about Kids’ Closet, thinking they might find it an interesting volunteer opportunity. After attending an SBCO meeting, the couple signed up to be Kids’ Closet volunteers, and the rest, as they say, is history. Marilyn and Marshall began working at Kids’ Closet before it was housed in the “big red building” in Mammoth. In the early days, volunteering involved carrying supplies to the distribution site, along with setting up and tearing down for each fall and spring session. At one point, Kids’ Closet was housed in a vacated elementary school in San Manuel where inventory was stored in rooms that resembled a rabbit warren. A long dark hall led to the restroom, and daylight was visible through misaligned walls. The couple worked as dressers helping the students select clothing and shoes. Over time, Marilyn became a day manager, a role that involves receiving the list of students coming to the Closet for a session, preparing a shopping sheet and bag for each child, conducting the volunteer meeting, checking to ensure each child leaves with a complete wardrobe, and checking the volunteers in and out. Basically, she is the “go to” person for the day, resolving any issues and helping ensure the kids and volunteers have a good experience.

Marilyn has had many memorable moments as an SBCO volunteer, but ones that stand out include a boy who arrived wearing his grandmother’s shoes and left thrilled to be wearing his own new pair; a child who received his first toothbrush; children dancing in their new clothes, and little ones jumping to show how “super” their new shoes fit.

Marilyn says, “Kids’ Closet is a wonderful place to be. The kids are amazing and the volunteers make each child feel special and happy to be there to shop for new clothes. It’s a great place to volunteer and make a difference in children’s lives.”

SBCO Office Changes to Summer Schedule

From May 12 through Labor Day, the SaddleBrooke Community Outreach office at Ste. L in the SaddleBrooke business complex on SaddleBrooke Blvd. will be open every Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to noon only. The office will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. after Sept. 1.

Volunteer to Help Teens Shop for School Clothing

Vivan Errico

Twice a year, in late January or early February and again in July, SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) hosts Teen Closet shopping trips at the Target and Ross stores in Oro Valley. Teen Closet, which started as an offshoot of Kids’ Closet in 2003, helps students in grades 9 through 12 look their best in order to do their best in school. It also assists families with high school students deal with the rising costs of new school clothes. Students entering ninth grade are identified by their schools as those who would benefit from the program based on family need. Prior to entering ninth grade, these students would have been able to attend Kids’ Closet.

The application process is simple and involves both the parents and the student. The parent/guardian agrees to transport the child to the shopping venue and to allow their child to shop with an SBCO volunteer. The student agrees to attend school regularly, get passing grades, and perform six hours of community service each semester, which allows the student to remain in the program throughout the entire four years of high school.

We are pleased to announce that we will be having our next Back–to–School Teen Closet shopping event this coming July. We will be shopping on Monday, July 21 through Friday, July 25 from 5 to 7 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, July 26.

The teens are told how much money they can spend. They can fill their shopping carts with clothes, shoes, underwear, and personal hygiene products. They may also spend a percentage of their budget on school supplies. Once their carts are full, they go through the checkout line where an SBCO volunteer pays for everything.

We need a volunteer to accompany each teen as they shop, offering guidance on how to stay within their budget, buying clothes that will be school appropriate, or just be a friendly person they can talk to during the two-hour shopping trip. If you would be interested in volunteering for this event, please contact us. We need both male and female volunteers. You can sign up for one or more two-hour shifts at a time that is convenient for you. Contact Debbie Aberle at debbie@community-outreach.org or 520-403-8078 for more information.

Jeanette Wollinka Receives the Lifetime Achievement Award from SBCO

Nancy McCluskey-Moore

Each year SaddleBrooke Community Outreach (SBCO) bestows the Lifetime Achievement Award on a volunteer who has provided 20 years of service to the organization. Two decades of continuous service is quite an achievement, and in 2024-25, two special people received this recognition: Marilyn Christensen and Jeanette Wollinka.

In 1993, Jeanette Wollinka and her husband, James, moved to SaddleBrooke from Truckee, Calif. Jeanette spent a total of 45 years working in the travel industry, first as a ticket agent for Continental Airlines in Roswell, N.M., then as a stewardess for Western Airlines. After marrying, she became a travel agent, eventually owning her own business in Pocatello, Idaho. Before retiring at age 82, she worked for Bon Voyage Travel here in Tucson.

Jeanette first began volunteering for SBCO as a receptionist in the office in 2004. For a few years, she served as the scheduler for the Monday volunteers at Kids’ Closet and then became a clothing buyer for several years. This role involved ordering clothing, underwear, and socks for the Closet, working with vendors to ensure on-time delivery, making emergency buys when shipments were delayed, monitoring inventory, and traveling to Las Vegas for buying trips (which is not much fun in August). She finally had to leave this position to help care for her husband who is now 97 years old.

Jeanette’s SBCO volunteer work also has included several years delivering the SaddleBrooke Source Book to her unit and other units as necessary. For many years, she has served on the golf cart patrol during the Walk for Kids and as a docent during the annual Home Tour.

Beyond her service with SBCO, Jeanette has served on the traffic committee for the annual SaddleBrooke Health Fair and for 10 years worked on Friday mornings in the SaddleBrooke One Library. She also regularly worked at the Golden Goose Thrift Shop as a bagger on Tuesday afternoon.

According to Jeanette, “The most gratifying volunteer work I have done was with Kid’s Closet. But any volunteering I have done with SBCO made me feel like I was helping to make its projects succeed. Volunteering has been a wonderful way to make friends and feel like a part of our community. It is wonderful to feel that you belong. I have encouraged anyone I could, especially new people in our community, to volunteer. We feel blessed that we chose SaddleBrooke for the retirement life, even though I was not retired all that time.We are so fortunate to have made this our home for the past 32 years.”

Some would say that Jeanette has never really retired. And SBCO is grateful for her dedicated service.