Outreach

The competitive nature of GCU’s baseball players paid off in successful marketing techniques Saturday as the Lopes encouraged shoppers at the Moon Valley Safeway to donate $1,334.73 and a record 132 turkeys for the St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance Super Saturday Turkey Drive. “They became advocates for food insecurity in Arizona,” said Debbie Accomazzo, GCU Community Outreach Manager.

It was a serendipitous moment when Jerry Colangelo dialed Nathan Johnson’s number, granting his wish for $5,000 in physical education equipment for his students at Westwood Elementary. Colangelo is connected to GCU as a benefactor whose name graces the Colangelo College of Business, and Johnson is a GCU alumnus. The Lopes were also involved in the Fiesta Bowl Charities Wishes for Teachers initiative as sponsors and as wish granters, and Dr. Kimberly LaPrade, the Dean of the College of Education, selected the names of three lucky teachers from the large red plastic apple.

A trio of Grand Canyon University students are accelerating their dream of eliminating the middle man for impoverished Peruvian coffee farmers. They will take their ideas to the Clinton Global Initiative University, a conference this weekend at the University of Chicago. “I think it is awesome to be able to see future world leaders, entrepreneurs and changers in one central location,’’ said Noah Wolfe, who has combined with Tim McGill and Aly Halbakken to form a nonprofit, Novella.

They programmed robots, made battery motors, concocted some gooey gak and, more importantly, got in touch with their inner scientist. Fourth- through eighth-grade girls were all about science, technology, engineering and math at the Girl Powered STEM Workshop on Saturday in the Engineering Building. The event, a partnership between the GCU Robotics Club and Strategic Educational Alliances, was inspired by VEX Robotics’ Girl Powered Initiative, which aims to redefine the face of STEM.

Time stood still Friday night at GCU Stadium for a group of families battling cancer. For those few hours, it was OK to take a break from the fight. The ninth annual Run to Fight Children’s Cancer event kicked off it’s season at the men’s soccer game, with children donning gold superhero capes getting the chance to walk out and be introduced with the Lopes’ soccer team. Run to Fight has raised nearly $600,000 for families battling the disease since its inception in 2011. This year’s race is scheduled for March 16.

The CONHCP community reached out in a big way last week by giving sports physicals to more than 300 Special Olympics athletes. It was the second-straight year that the Lopes volunteered for the Medfest event at the the Arizona Recreation Center for the Handicapped, located about 2 miles east of the University on Colter Street. “It gives me goosebumps,” said Stepanie Herrick Kays, an instructor with CONHCP’s family nurse practitioner program. “Children, especially children with low income, if there is something I can do to make their lives better I’m going to do it. If I can give them that sports physical they can’t afford, I’m hopeful going to give them a path. It’s a self-esteem boost and gives them that moment of pride.”

Story by Ryan Kryska Photo by David Kadlubowski GCU News Bureau Nothing was different about the traffic at the 35th Avenue and Camelback Road intersection on Wednesday evening: cars, trucks and buses, work vehicles and family vans, people crossing the road, the sun in your eyes heading west. But not lost in the heart of it all was a hue. On the north sidewalk, three groups of teen boys carried basketballs, shoes and gym bags across the intersection on their way east to Grand Canyon University. They were headed to the Ball Out Phoenix basketball developmental camp at GCU Arena, where they’d learn drills, listen to speakers who know what it takes to be successful and meet the kid across town who could turn out to be a best friend. The camp is free, and it’s run by a group of students who are bringing the future of Phoenix down the Camelback sidewalk. “I saw a love for the game and I saw how passionate people would get about simply dribbling a ball,” said Elisha Fronda, a junior Honors student at GCU and founder of Ball Out Phoenix. “I kind of had a different level of how it could make […]

Grand Canyon University employees are top of the class. Community Outreach Manager Debbie Accomazzo knows this, and it’s why she didn’t panic when Habitat volunteering was low a couple of weeks ago. All she had to do was put out one call, and nearly 60 volunteers answered. On Friday, 25 of those trustworthy employees were at a house on 43rd Avenue. It was GCU’s second trip to the home, where employees helped with putting a new roof on the first time and painted this time.

There are times when all someone needs is a little helping hand. That’s the case for Fernanda Munoz, a senor nursing student at GCU and a single mother of two. The nonprofit organization Helping Hands for Single Moms has taken Munoz under its wing, providing her with a scholarship to get her degree and additional services to make her dreams a reality. Munoz says her children are the driving force behind her education: “My daughter, she is so little, and she is so proud of me.”

“We no longer have two communities of GCU and the Canyon Corridor, you now have one. GCU just happens to be a university within the corridor.” Isn’t that extraordinary? Those are the words of Habitat for Humanity’s Director of Sponsor Relations, Cassandra Jarles. The partnership between GCU and Habitat has truly impacted lives, from the families whose houses are revitalized to the employee volunteers who are blessed with being able to serve them. The partnership is on pace to revitalize its 200th home on the Oct. 27 Serve the City date, but there’s a lot of work to do to make it there. GCU and Habitat need you — yes, you! — to sign up for one of the fall’s employee volunteer events, the first of which is Sept. 21.