Longtime resident silent force for city – and community

In October, the State of the City address — a prime event on the city’s annual social calendar — was on the theme of “Pure Imagination,” from the song in the movie “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

Mayor Christian Price, fittingly costumed in the chocolatier’s purple velvet jacket, yellow bow tie and brown top hat, highlighted the city’s economic accomplishments in 2021 and presented a vision of the future.

But it was up to Brenda Campbell to transform Copper Sky into a Candyland to help put residents into a festive mood and help the mayor convey his message of prosperity and optimism. Price spoke from a candy-festooned lectern and a stage decorated with faux sacks of sugar.

Campbell works in event planning for the Community Services Department for the City of Maricopa. She is one of those people who works behind the scenes to get things done. A humble servant ready to serve. And she prefers it like that.

She quietly puts her creative imprint on city events all year long.

She worked on last month’s Merry Copa, which drew its biggest crowd ever, and has been working with other city staff in recent weeks on an interactive map of the annual Holiday Homes & Businesses on Parade, as well as the Copa Glow Night Market, scheduled for Jan. 14 at Copper Sky. She also helps plan the popular Salsa Fest, Great American 4th celebration and Mysterious Mansion Mayhem, the Halloween haunted house tour.

She also served on the planning committee for November’s Veterans Day Parade. On the day of the march, she was given a very important task: get Price and Ak-Chin Chairman Robert Miguel into the parade line on time.

“Brenda is a relentlessly selfless and thoughtful person,” said her boss, Community Services Director Nathan Ullyot. “She is one of those people who always seems to have more time than the rest of us.

“She is never too busy for a worthy cause, and I admire her for that.”

“I was raised to serve others,” Campbell said, simply.

‘Events are really my passion’

Campbell, a Las Vegas native, and her husband, Greg, came to Maricopa from Champaign, Illinois, after he was transferred to Arizona by his employer, Dollar Tree. A market manager for the chain, he is now retired. They live in Rancho El Dorado and have two grown daughters and six grandchildren.

“We were attracted to Maricopa by its newness and its cleanliness, even though it has that rich history,” she said.

In Champaign, Campbell was director of operations for Wolfram Research Inc., a software company. When the couple moved to Maricopa, she telecommuted for two-and-a-half years, eventually deciding that to do the job effectively, she had to be in Illinois. It was 2008 and she decided to resign and take a year off.

During her break, she went through the Citizens Leadership Academy, a biannual program that teaches Maricopa residents the inner workings of municipal government and prepares them to become actively engaged citizens. About the same time, she interviewed for an open position with the city that had event planning responsibilities.

She was offered the job and started in 2009 running events for the Parks, Recreation and Library Department, the predecessor to the current Community Services Department. When she started, there were five employees in the department.

“I didn’t want to be in charge anymore,” she recalled. “I just wanted something to keep me busy. … The city took a chance on me, this person who just wanted to work and not manage, serving in a government capacity. I had never done that before.”

A year later, she took a quasi-governmental role as the chair of the 2010 Maricopa Complete Count Census Committee, working to ensure every resident was counted. She held community meetings and met with representatives from the Maricopa Unified School District and other stakeholders.

Later, when Copper Sky opened, she transferred to the administrative side, where she worked until she returned last year to the Events group. The department, which now has more than 200 full- and part-time employees, also runs the library and cultural center and the new community center shared by veterans and seniors.

“That’s what I chose to do,” she said. “I was working all the events anyway, so why not have more say. Events are really my passion.”

In July 2019, the Arizona Department of Transportation gave the city a strict four-hour window for the community to celebrate the opening of the long-awaited State Route 347 overpass at the Union Pacific tracks. Campbell planned the ribbon-cutting and party on the bridge.

“I had to get people on and off the bridge,” she recalled. “I think we were five minutes over. The trucks were there to lay more asphalt as we were pulling off the trailers and leaving with all of our stuff.”

“She is a go-getter,” Price said. “She just doesn’t stop. We couldn’t do it without her. We love her.”

Friend of the community

It didn’t take long after her arrival to the city for Campbell to stretch her service to the community — as a volunteer. Today she spends as many as 12 hours a week of her personal time working on behalf of a half-dozen or so organizations.

Her volunteer work was sparked by the “little red-shirt ladies” — she uses the term with affection and respect — who greeted her on the porch of the original library near the MUSD administration building. (The building then became the veterans center and soon will house a city museum.) She quickly became a Friend of the Library.

Soon after, a group of historians in the Friends group decided the historical society needed to branch off and become its own entity, and Campbell joined that organization’s board. She helped get the Maricopa Historical Society set up as a nonprofit, and served the first year as secretary, and then as treasurer, a role she still performs today. In early December she was nominated for another three-year term.

“I’m like, let’s get some new blood in here, but no,” she laughed.

Next, she became involved when Relay For Life, the world’s largest fundraising event to fight cancer, was started up in the city. She became a team captain and a member of the “Grand Club,” raising $1,000 every year, and sat on the planning committee for many years. She had been involved with the fundraising effort in Illinois.

“She has always been willing to help us, to get whatever we need done,” said Joy Holsinger, the last of the original committee members from when Relay For Life started in 2010. “She is just amazing.”

“She’s just got a really big heart. She’s really helped a lot.”

A few years ago, Campbell helped form the Maricopa Community Foundation, and she serves as its liaison to the city. Ullyot is the foundation’s secretary.

“We’ve got 13 high-profile executives on this board and I’m the go-to, you know, because they’re out running their businesses,” she said. “I’m the one that kind of just helps them in an administrative capacity as much as I can.”

Like her city work, she prefers to do her volunteer service quietly, though she has been honored several times in recent years by members of the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce, including awards as the Civil Servant of the Year and the Sonny Dunn Citizen of the Year.

“I really don’t want to be in the limelight,” she said, when asked about it. “I don’t want to be in charge, but it just seems that when there is a need, I offer assistance. I never want to be the chair of the committee but sometimes I end up that way just because of, I guess, my leadership skills or time management skills or organizational skills.”

But don’t confuse quiet with a lack of energy.

“She is a volunteer force,” Price said. “She is one of those people who is first to say, I can get this done. She is such a creative person.”

Helping others

That philosophy marks the couple’s philanthropy, too, even when Brenda doesn’t officially volunteer for the beneficiary.

Upon their move to Arizona, they continued to lend financial support to organizations in Illinois. In time, they have been faithful donors to F.O.R. Maricopa, a local food bank, and Against Abuse, which operates a domestic violence shelter in the city.

“My husband, well, he’s got a different budget now that he is retired,” Brenda said. “We don’t have the same disposable income as we had before, but he still finds a way to give. He’s always been a very giving person.”

“My husband writes checks,” she added. “I write checks, too, but I donate my time and he allows me to do that. I’m very lucky. Last week, I probably had dinner with him one night, though I did take one afternoon to have lunch with him. He’s been very, very good to me.”

She acknowledged that some medical issues a couple of years ago have slowed her a bit.
“His only concern is that I stay healthy, and he sees me exhausted and he doesn’t like that,” she said. “But he is a huge supporter and gives me the freedom to do what I can.”

Their generosity is guided by one desire — to help others.

“We don’t need to be in the limelight,” she said. “We just do what we can when we can, and we get that self-gratification personally.”

Most recently, Campbell jumped at the chance to support Best Christmas Ever, a charitable organization founded in 2010 that made its way to Maricopa in 2021. It assists families who have fallen on tough times through no fault of their own. The charity partners with local leaders and businesses to bless families with a hugely generous gift package tailored to their unique situations and meant to be life-altering.

She met with BJ Lingren, a recent snowbird who brought the program from her home state of Minnesota, became a volunteer and nominated a local family who needed a helping hand.

You’d think Campbell was a beneficiary rather than a benefactor, the enthusiasm rising in her voice as she talked about the Christmastime campaign.

“We are so fortunate that BJ and her husband found Maricopa,” she said. “It’s going to be huge. When we write checks, we don’t necessarily know where that money is going. We donated $1,000 (to BCE) and we’re seeing where it’s going, it’s visible.”

“I just wanted to be a part of it. It’s such a great thing.”

‘Seeing the smiles’

With her front seat on the city’s growth, Campbell said being involved and seeing things happen is exciting. She pointed to the December opening of the new hospital.

“I think we’re seeing the growth and opportunity in the foresight of the early city leaders, the fast-moving pace of our current city manager.”

“We stay very busy here,” she continued. “Seeing the smiles on people’s faces serving our community in that way, it just makes everything worth the long hours that you put in to make things good.”

Everyone can play a part in making the community better for all.

“There’s plenty of opportunities to volunteer,” she said, mentioning the library, the food bank and MUSD. “Maricopa is a community of transplants; we all come from different walks of life, and we have so much varied experience and knowledge. Sharing that knowledge — working as a tutor with a student, for example — there are a lot of opportunities.

“I was lucky, the little (red-shirt) ladies inviting me to coffee, finding out about their organization and getting involved. It can be the Lions Club or the Rotary Club or just being a member of something. Everyone can spare an hour a week, I think.”

Biography box

Brenda Campbell
Age: 59
Maricopan since: 2006
Neighborhood: Rancho El Dorado
Family: Husband Greg; two daughters – Meagan, 38, of Las Vegas has four children and Alissa, 36, of Long Beach, California, has two children
Position: Events staff, Community Services Department, City of Maricopa
Favorite event: The city’s marquee event, Salsa Fest. “I enjoy them all, but my favorite is the salsa festival, simply because it is just such a festive affair. It’s so focused on the salsa and the Hispanic community. it’s colorful. It’s bold. It’s the music. It just gives you good vibes.”
Mantra: “I’m a true believer in buying local because we are a tight-knit community, and we need to help each other.”
Special talent: Gift basket design. She puts together no fewer than 50 a year, turning a single item – a toaster or a Papa John’s gift card, for example – into a themed presentation.

This story was first published in the January edition of InMaricopa magazine.