Print shop, school dist. celebrate students, support nutrition dept.
In addition to printing upward of 1,000 diplomas for Yuma Union High School District campuses facing delays in receiving diplomas due to the coronavirus’ impact on “nonessential” businesses, local print shop Print Zoom recently established a partnership with Crane School District to celebrate students’ advancements while fostering a sense of community pride.
As a product of Crane School District, Print Zoom’s owner Jon Perry said the partnership “just made sense” and served as a way for him to pay it forward.
“As an alumni who came up through the Crane School system, first as a Reagan Patriot and later as a Crane Cougar, I am thrilled to find a way to celebrate and give back all at the same time,” Perry said. “With all the work the Crane (School) District is doing to make sure people have a meal option, it is an honor to help the community in such a manner.”
The initiative builds on a past partnership with the district during which, through Perry’s generosity, allowed the nutrition department to provide free meals to parents as well as students during the three-week winter break.
“It was just one of those things where a lot of our goals kind of paralleled,” Crane’s school nutrition director Michael Clark said. “What he was after in serving the community and giving back paralleled with what we’re trying to do, it’s kind of taken off from there. It’s been interesting to see how much of our worlds are intertwined through the people that we know and do business with.”
Through their most recent collaboration, custom yard signs and banners made by Perry and his team allow district families to celebrate the elementary and middle school graduates in their lives as they move on to their next chapter in education — a milestone typically commemorated through school ceremonies that have been cancelled this year in light of COVID-19.
“We should celebrate the advancement of our youth,” Perry said. “Encouragement goes a long way toward their self-worth and self-esteem growing up. They are not getting the end-of-the-year celebration that they typically get... and it’s important to celebrate those moments and milestones in life. It’s a way to build community around the schools, because schools are the center of the community.”
As a former board member of the Yuma Community Food Bank, Perry’s conviction is that families and individuals in need of resources, namely sustainable meals, should have attainable access to them in their community. That’s why a portion of the revenue for all yard sign orders is going directly to Crane’s nutrition department, enabling the district to continue its efforts to be such a resource.
“One of the things I stated back then was I have a hard time understanding how we have so many people who are hungry when we are a country of such abundance, and a community that can grow so much and cares so much,” Perry said. “Through the Crane nutrition program, that’s just another great outlet that we have for making sure our community is taken care of.”
According to Clark, joining forces with Perry and his business is a testament to the power of fellow community members pairing up for the sake of their community’s greater good.
“Every little bit that we can, we try to utilize all those other resources in our community and the generosity of anybody else that’s out there that’s willing and can donate,” Clark said. “(Perry) is an invaluable resource. He’s helping me and I’m helping him and that’s part of the collaboration — we’re mutually beneficial in more than just one way. As we continue to grow in our own individual ways, I hope that it continues to be mutually beneficial, because I think that’s one of my roles in our community — being a collaborator.”