Donation widens aid to 1,000 schoolkids
PV couple give $100,000 to boost shopping effort
This summer, 1,000 children in the northeast Valley and beyond will be treated to a back-toschool shopping spree to the tune of $100 each.
And the event wouldn’t have been possible without the donation of a Valley couple.
In an effort to prevent children from low-income, distressed environments from starting school behind their peers, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale organized 30 Days of Shopping, said Steve Davidson, president and CEO.
“All children, regardless of socioeconomic factors, deserve the opportunity to start the school year off on a positive note and on an even playing field,” Davidson said.
The shopping spree has been done in the past, he said, but not nearly to the extent it is this year, thanks to Paradise Valley residents Ellie and Michael Ziegler, who donated $100,000.
The children are given a backpack stuffed with school supplies and a $100 gift card to Kohl’s for clothes and other needed items.
The event entails more than 30 days of shopping, culminating at 7 a.m. Aug. 3 at Kohl’s, 8680 E. Raintree Drive, in Scottsdale.
“We’ve had 100 or 200 kids participate in the shopping spree, but never 1,000 kids,” Davidson said. “That’s why we spread it over a long period of time.”
‘‘ We’ve had 100 or 200 kids participate in the shopping spree, but never 1,000 kids.”
STEVE DAVIDSON President and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale, which organized 30 Days of Shopping to prepare children from low-income environments for school
Director of outreach Marybell Ramirez-Deeds said participants, ages 5-18, are selected from those who are on full or partial scholarships, which are based on the criteria used for the federal government’s free and reduced-price lunch program.
The children are chosen from all nine branches of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale, which include locations in Fountain Hills, Phoenix, Mesa and Peach Springs, on the Hualapai Reservation in northern Arizona.
“Most of these kids come from single-parent homes, where the parents are usually working in the service industry and depend on hourly wages,” Ramirez-Deeds said. “These parents are living paycheck to paycheck.”
The Zieglers’ donation highlights Ellie’s deep connection to the Boys & Girls Club. Her grandfather, Ellis Levitt, founded Des Moines, Iowa’s first Boys & Girls Club. Her mother, Maddie Levitt, volunteered extensively for the clubs, and now Ellie and her husband fund the Maddie Levitt Youth of the Year scholarship, honoring 12 graduating Phoenix Boys & Girls Club kids with partial college schol- arships.
Ellie’s sister, Suzie Burt, is a former president of the Des Moines clubs, which employ similar shopping events and was the inspiration for the Scottsdale event.
Ellie said it’s been a tremendous honor and privilege to work with an organization that impacts so many children, imparting them with knowledge and high self-esteem.
These children are the next generation of leaders, she said.
“My mom carried on my grandfather’s legacy. She volunteered tirelessly, and as children, we were always helping — stuffing envelopes, working during book sales,” Ellie said.
“One of the reasons we’ve been involved for years is because youth perform far better if offered the same opportunities as their more affluent peers.”