Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District teachers got a Christmas in August as members of the district community gave a little back.
The district gave out these back-to-school gifts at its annual Made in the Shade event, which welcomed staff and teachers back to school Aug. 4 at Mountain View Preparatory School.
“This is a watershed year in the number of gifts we’ve had,” superintendent Steve King said.
And while normally he and executive assistant Tricia Winters would wait until the end of the event to give out the gifts, the outpouring was such that they decided to do it first thing.
King and Winters invited SOCSD Governing Board member Mary Valenzuela to present the gifts to teachers who won the raffle, who were all decked out in T-shirts showing off their school pride.
Gifts and those who donated included:
- McCarthy Construction gave $700 in gift cards.
- Haydon Builders gave $500 in gift cards.
- H2 Group gave $360 worth of school supplies and gift cards.
- Progressive roofing gave $250 in Target gift cards.
- APS donated three family four-pack baseball tickets.
- The Cottonwood Verizon store donated 10 boxes of school supplies valued at $50 each.
- Expect More Arizona gave five T-shirts and COCSD backpacks.
“I am overwhelmed and very grateful for the generosity, and appreciate the amazing donation. Of course, I’m excited to share these supplies with my wonderful DDB kindergarten team, as well as my class …. What a wonderful way to start the year,” said Natalie DeMiguel, a kindergarten teacher at Dr. Daniel Bright Elementary School.
She received a basket of classroom supplies valued at more than $300 from H2 Group, which manages the district’s capital bonds. Also at the event, the district honored faculty and staff celebrating landmark years of service, from five years all the way up to three staffers celebrating 30 years with the district.
The district’s schools started class Wednesday, Aug. 9.
