Outreach

GCU’s tornado-relief team of three — Enrollment Counselor Aaron Johnson, Community Outreach Manager Jose Moreno and Communications Specialist Jennifer Willis — hit the road Thursday morning for southwestern Missouri. They’re planning to stop in Amarillo, Texas, for the night and be in Joplin, Mo., by late afternoon Friday. The generous donations of GCU employees and the Phoenix community filled a van and a U-Haul trailer with clothing and toiletries. The rest of the donations collected will be transported by semi to Joplin in the next week to 10 days. Gift cards with a total value of more than $1,200 also were donated and are being taken along by the team. A special ’Lopes Up to staffers who helped sort clothing and supplies and load the van and trailer Wednesday afternoon and evening at McKinley Hall. The can-do crew included Chad Troxel, Chrystal Phillips, Lanae Benser, Geneva Dellabitta, Atiya Bynum, Ericka Rodriguez Vazquez, James Orosco, Tristan Crooks, Sean Piper, Clinton Harris, Heather DiFrancesco and Ami Francisco.

The clothing and supplies drive for residents of Joplin, Mo., displaced by the May 22 tornado received news coverage Wednesday morning by Channels 3, 10 and 12 from US Airways Center in downtown Phoenix. The Suns and Mercury collected toiletries for the drive at the arena’s Casino Arizona Pavilion. GCU was represented by Thunder, members of the Event Services team and Community Outreach Manager Jose Moreno. Boxes were donated by Quick Product Solutions. GCU’s team of three — Moreno, Enrollment Counselor Aaron Johnson (a Joplin native) and Communications Specialist Jennifer Willis — will leave for southwestern Missouri early Thursday morning in a van packed with donations. You can follow them via daily updates on Herd on Campus.  

When representatives of GCU pull into Joplin, Mo., later this week with a delivery of clothes and supplies for victims of the May 22 tornado, they’ll be assisted by a one-man welcoming party: Bob Goltra.

GCU Enrollment Counselor Aaron Johnson can’t believe what has happened to his hometown of Joplin, Mo. Huge parts of it are gone, the work of the most devastating tornado in the United States in decades.

For T.J. Montoya, a finance counselor in GCU’s Military Division, visiting the VA Medical Center and Arizona State Veteran Home is close to his heart. Montoya’s grandfather was a veteran who spent time there, and he would bring his daughters to visit him often. “It’s my way of giving back to those who have served,” Montoya says. “I came with GCU last year for Memorial Day and I’d like to come again next year — make it a tradition. These people have given us so much, and they deserve so much more.”

GCU’s Military Division turned out in force Wednesday morning for a pre-Memorial Day visit to the VA Medical Center in central Phoenix, distributing coffee, doughnuts and American flags to veterans.
Memorial Day recognition of veterans has become a tradition at GCU, and Senior Vice President Bart Burkert said it’s a highlight for the division.

The C.O.P.E. Coalition in Phoenix, Ariz. sponsored The Photovoice exhibit at the GCU Library, featuring the work of middle-school and high-school refugee students. The teens attended nine weeks of classes and took photos of the people and things in their new lives living in Phoenix. The students are from Nepal, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Tanzania and Ivory Coast.

The April 2011 issue of FYP is now available at locations around campus including the Student Union, the Promenade, Latte Dah, Canyon Cafe and more. Get your copy at locations all around Grand Canyon University or click here for the PDF version.

Photos are available for purchase/donation until Friday, April 29. If interested in a particular shot, please see Terri Faust in the Office of Campus Life to reserve your photo and make a donation towards the GCU Missions Fund.

Nearly two dozen students from Alpha Psi Omega, the national theatre honor society, took the show on the road Wednesday to Gompers Habilitation Center, not far from GCU’s west Phoenix campus. The center, which has a day program serving developmentally disabled adults, was ready for the thespians. Its gymnasium was packed for a first-ever program of improvisational comedy coordinated by freshman Adam Benavides, one of the most talented performers in the College of Fine Arts and Production as well as Alpha Psi Omega’s president.