S.T.R.U.T. summer teen program’s success due to community

It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child. Once again this community proves it is the place to live and raise our children, for it is very obvious that we all care about the well being of our youth.

This past summer Maricopa churches, civic organizations, and individuals joined together to form a team called S.T.R.U.T (Summer Teen Recreational Unified Talent) to create community summer activities for our Maricopa youth. This team worked under the umbrella of the Action Alliance Network, a 501[c] 3 publicly supported charity.

Summer activities started on June 23 and continued every other weekend throughout the summer with the final activity being a back to school bash on August 25. All events were free to the youth. These events were held at the Maricopa Wells Middle School, Maricopa Meadows Park and the Oasis Life Church. Activities included concerts, inside and outside games, karaoke, freestyle break dancing, and skits. Vocab Malone, Living Proof Band, Baseline Band, and Hillside Band performed the concerts.

It is absolutely amazing to this team how this community rallied together to make these events a success by offering free food, food coupons, T-shirts and prize give-a-ways. The S.T.R.U.T. team would like to extend a special thank you to the following businesses for their generosity they provided this past summer to our youth.

Bank of America (Casa Grande) – Thank you for the many give-a-way prizes, such as, Frisbees, school supplies, mouse pads and the grand prize of a computer and printer which was given on August 25.

Dominos Pizza – thank you for the fabulous food and the excellent delivery service.

Thank you to the following restaurants for the free food gift cards:
Barros Pizza
Rosati’s Pizza
Baskin Robbins
Taco Bell
Brooklyn Boy’s Restaurant
Native New Yorker
Panda Express
Carl’s Junior

Maricopa Tees – Thank you for helping us to provide signage and T-shirts.

Thank you to the generous congregation donations of money and school supplies from the following churches:
ACTS Christian Center
First Baptist Church
Living Life Ministry
Living Waters Nazarene Church
Ministry Center
Mountain View Community Church
Oasis Life Church
Wings of Love Ministry

And lastly, thank you to all the people who have donated their time, talent and equipment to make these events a success.

It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child. Once again this community proves it is the place to live and raise our children, for it is very obvious that we all care about the well being of our youth.

S.T.R.U.T. plans to be back in action summer 2008. Contact Nolita Squires at (623) 910-0414.