70 homeless MUSD students in need of toys, clothing

Seventy children.

That’s about how many students are experiencing homelessness in the Maricopa Unified School District.

To help those students and provide a bit of holiday cheer, the district has started a toy drive called “Project Hope,” and the district is inviting community members to get involved.

“It’s in full-motion right now,” said Teri Ponticello, the grants and federal program coordinator at MUSD. “So far we’ve had a lot of participation.”

People interested in sponsoring a child can visit the district office building on the Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway and select a “star” from the window. The star lists the child’s age, gender and grade level – and a few of the stars have clothing sizes for the child.

Robin Schoup, the librarian at Maricopa High School, decided to sponsor a child after she found out about the project from a districtwide email.

“It’s what you do and it keeps life in perspective,” she said.

Right now, Schoup is debating what to purchase her child – she’s thinking of getting a toy and a hoodie sweatshirt.

“You have to have a toy,” she said. “I don’t care if you’re an adult or not. You have to have a toy.”

Schoup said she’s not surprised about the number of children in the district who are homeless. Often, she’ll see students come into the library and use the computers to look up housing, jobs or how to create a resume.

But Ponticello said she was surprised. The district has distributed gifts to homeless children in the past, and this year the number of children who needed gifts is higher than usual, she said.

In the past, the district worked with a number of programs and organizations to collect gifts for children experiencing homelessness. This year, many of those organizations weren’t able to help with the district effort because they were already committed to other projects.

Ponticello began brainstorming other ideas, and that’s when she came up with this idea: a communitywide toy drive that anyone can participate in.

“We really don’t want our students to go without,” Ponticello said.

***ADVERTISEMENT***There are still a handful of students – mainly middle schoolers and high schoolers – who have not been sponsored. The last day to pick up a “star” is Dec. 16.

Unwrapped gifts must be turned in by Dec. 16 as well. If someone picks up a star on that day, the latest they can turn in a gift is the following morning, Dec. 17.

The gifts will be a surprise to the students, and they’ll be distributed on or before Dec. 20

“We are really excited about the level of support we’ve received so far,” Ponticello said. “I’m thrilled and I hope to be able to do this every year.”