Valley Couple Steps Up to Outfit Children for School
For the fourth consecutive summer, 1,000 of the northeast Valley’s underserved children will experience a personal back-to-school shopping spree, thanks to a $100,000 donation from Paradise Valley residents Ellie and Michael Ziegler.
“All children, regardless of socioeconomic factors, deserve the opportunity to start the school year off on a positive note, on an even playing field,” says Lisa Hurst, CEO of the Scottsdale Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale.
Ellie and Michael Ziegler with children at Kohl’s
To prevent children from low-income, distressed environments from starting school behind their peers, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale has implemented this program with Kohl’s, now in its fourth year. This series of shopping events began at Desert Ridge Marketplace in mid-July and will conclude in August.
Ellie Ziegler’s connection to the Boys & Girls Clubs goes back generations. Her grandfather, Ellis I. Levitt, founded Des Moines, Iowa’s first Boys & Girls Club. Her mother, Maddie Levitt, volunteered for the clubs, and now Ellie and her husband also fund the Maddie Levitt Youth of the Year scholarship, honoring 12 graduating Boys & Girls Club kids with partial college scholarships.
“My mother, Maddie Levitt, volunteered extensively for the clubs,” Ziegler says. “Mike and I have remained committed to this program over the years because youth perform far better when they are provided the same opportunities as their more affluent peers.”
One thousand children will receive a backpack filled with school supplies and a $100 gift card to Kohl’s for clothes and necessities.
Marybell Ramirez-Deeds, director of outreach, says participants, ages 5 to 18 are, selected from among those who are on full or partial scholarships, based on the criteria used for the federal government’s free and reduced-price lunch program.
Youth from all nine branches of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale, including Fountain Hills, Phoenix, Mesa and Peach Springs, on the Hualapai Indian Community in northern Arizona, will be chosen to participate.
“A majority of these kids are from single-parent households, where the parents are typically living paycheck to paycheck,” Ramirez-Deeds says. “Our volunteers assist each child in selecting the right items to build their confidence as they go back to school. It is such a joy to watch their faces light up.”
