Community

It took just 10 days — 10 days — for GCU to create a regional COVID-19 vaccination site, one unique in that it is the only point-of-dispensing site, or POD, in Maricopa County that offers a walk-through option. The goal is to administer between 800 to 1,000 vaccinations each day it is open to various community populations by appointment, depending on vaccine availability. “We’re doing it because this is part of our mission. This is part of our values to serve the community in this regard,” said Emergency Preparedness Manager Marcus Castle of the site, which opened today.

GCU has partnered with Phoenix Rescue Mission in many ways over the years, from helping the nonprofit’s restaurant, Mission Possible Cafe, get off the ground, to the organization being a clinical rotation site for the University’s prelicensure nursing students, to GCU offering scholarships to those who have gone through the Rescue Mission’s Transformations Recovery Program. The latest partnership is the Lope Shop’s Give Back Get Back campaign, in which clothing, shoes and other items will be donated to the nonprofit. GCU’s work with Phoenix Rescue Mission was featured in the Community Relations Department’s latest Town Hall Informational.

College is all about learning experiences, and the Honors STEMists club took learning to the next level when its members built two wheelchairs and donated them to the Neighborhood Christian Clinic. Best of all, the Honors College students got to meet the family of a recipient. “It was just a very raw moment,” said one of the students, Abby Abraham. “They just kept saying, ‘You don’t understand how much this means to us.’”

What started out as a conversation at a meeting between Greg Harman, Assistant Vice President of Academic Alliances, and Dave Donaldson, co-founder of CityServe International, has turned into a something amazing — a partnership that led to GCU distributing 2,100 boxes of food to more than 20 community organizations as part of the USDA’s Farmers to Families Food Box Program. It was an achievement recognized at last week’s CityServe Virtual Celebration, which included not only Ivanka Trump, Advisor to the President, but Harman, who was a featured presenter.

One in four Arizona classrooms need a teacher, and the pandemic made it worse. GCU has launched an initiative to help certify more teachers, called Canyon L.E.A.P. to Teach, an alternative route to licensure. The program kicked off with hits first cohort in late December and already is having success.

In advance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, GCU’s Black Student Union hosted the virtual presentation “I Have a Dream for a Healthier and Happier You and Me.” A panel of three health experts not only detailed risk factors for COVID-19 and how to avoid it but gave advice on mental health care and self-advocacy.

GCU is stepping up to assist with COVID-19 vaccination efforts in Arizona by becoming a public Point of Dispensing (POD) for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health. The University’s commercial hub at 27th Avenue and Camelback Road will serve as one of seven POD sites in Maricopa County.

The Lope Shop wanted to do something more for the community so, for National Opposite Day, it is collecting sweatshirts to be donated to GCU community partner Phoenix Rescue Mission the week of Jan. 25. To get ready for the event, the Community Relations Department has organized its second Town Hall Informational to connect the campus community with Phoenix Rescue Mission “to understand how we’re connected and the impact we’re making together,” Community Relations Director Debbie Accomazzo said.

We needed this. In a time of strife that never seems to end, a ray of hope and joy came from 26 students and their families from poor neighborhoods around GCU on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were awarded full-tuition Students Inspiring Students Scholarships, and the tears flowed. “I’m doing this to repay them,” said Dah Htoo of her parents, who brought her to America for a better life through an education.

What a year, and not in a good way for most people. But GCU didn’t back off when the pandemic struck, and its staff and students kept finding ways to be the light in a dark COVID world. As President Brian Mueller said, “We’ve got to adapt but keep moving forward,” and that’s exactly what happened. Here are 10 stories that showed that movement.