Please take a minute and read the excerpt below from the Green Valley News which talks about an amazing example of the essence of Green Valley - a small town with a great big heart. Whether or not you are a "thrift store" person, you have to appreciate the contribution that the Green Valley White Elephant Thrift Store makes to the area. Every year the store which is run totally by volunteers gives away over a million dollars to charities, schools and worthy causes from the profits it makes selling used goods to folks all over southern Arizona. Green Valley is a town that excels in kindness and generousity while providing a great place for seniors to age in place with an active and full lifestyle. Give a read to this story which can't help but warm your heart and amaze you with its story.
The Country Fair White Elephant handed out $1.4 million in checks Thursday, and more of it is staying in Southern Arizona than in the past.
"We decided we wanted to give more money to the individual groups in our local community rather than the large national health organizations," said Tom Kelley, a CFWE board member and head of the store's Contributions Committee. "We had given the national disease groups checks in the past but those amounts were just a drop in the bucket since they get donations from across the country."
Another $100,000 was allocated for college scholarships, pushing the total this year through the thrift store's sale of donated goods to $1.5 million.
In 2014, five national disease control groups received checks totaling $52,000. Dropped from this year's list of national recipients were the American Red Cross and the American Cancer Society, which last year received checks for $11,000 and $10,000, respectively.
On Thursday, three groups received checks totaling $30,000 in the national disease control category — including the Sabbar Shrine Temple, the Alzheimer's Association-Southwest Chapter and the local American Parkinson's Disease support group, which received $16,000, or $2,000 more than last year.
Public and private schools from Sahuarita to Nogales shared $47,400 more than last year, while the Sahuarita Food Bank received a check for $20,000, $15,000 more than in 2014.
Of the $1.5 million distributed, 25 percent went to public schools and 45 percent to adult and child assistance groups.
Scott Hagerman, who became superintendent for Continental Elementary School District in July, collected the district's check.
"This is incredible what the White Elephant does," he said. "When you listen to the amount of money that is awarded and how much it means to everyone, then you understand how important the White Elephant and the volunteers really are to the community."
CFWE President Karen Rans welcomed the crowd of nearly 200 at the GVR West Center where the event was staged and kept the two-hour event rolling, crediting other volunteers for making her term "easy and rewarding."
Kelley said there were 132 applications requesting a total of $2.5 million this year, including seven new applications, one of which was approved — Wisdom Sports & Scholars youth group was awarded $5,000, its first contribution.
The Contributions Committee selected 122 organizations, including youth groups, nature study, and community arts support, whose representatives collected their checks and thanked the more than 600 White Elephant volunteers who work at the store. Many recipients brought along gifts of cookies, cards, photos and elephant statues.
The four groups receiving checks of $50,000 or more included Borderlands Food Bank, collecting $50,000; Amado Community Food Bank, $55,000; Green Valley-Sahuarita Community Food Bank, $60,000; and St. Andrew's Children's Clinic, which collected the largest donation of $65,000.
A special award of a ceramic white elephant was presented to Larry Kistler, president of GVR's Woodworkers of Green Valley. The Woodworkers Club has made the wooden bases for the ceramic white elephant statues that are presented to volunteers who have worked 20 years at the store for more than two decades. The trophies are also awarded to annual parade entry winners.
For the past five years, the White Elephant has awarded a certificate for the Best Annual Grant Application and this year the Tubac Center of the Arts won.
In the last 51 years and including Thursday's check distribution, the White Elephant has funneled more than $29 million to hundreds of organizations. The store's Hollace G. Roberts Educational Foundation alone has given more than $1.8 million for college scholarships.
SCHOOLS
Continental School District 20,000
Continental School (PTC) 2,000
Nogales School District 11,000
Desert Shadows Middle School 10,000
Wade Carpenter Middle School 10,000
Pierson Voc High School 4,500
Mary Welty Elem School 8,400
Coronado Elem School 10,000
Nogales High School 15,000
Challenger Elem School 8,000
Lincoln Elem School 10,000
AJ Mitchell Elem School 10,000
RM Bracker Elem School 9,000
Santa Cruz Valley School District
Santa Cruz Valley Foundation 2,000
Calabasas Middle School 22,000
Mountain View Elem School 11,000
Rio Rico High School 22,000
San Cayetano Elem School 15,000
Coatimundi Middle School 10,500
Sahuarita School District
Sahuarita High School 15,000
Sahuarita Intermediate School 15,000
Sahuarita Middle School 15,000
Sahuarita Primary School 17,000
Sopori Elem School 23,000
Anza Trail School 25,000
Walden Grove High School 14,000
Sahuarita Education Foundation 2,000
Copper View Elem School 10,000
Sahuarita Music Boosters 5,000
The Link Program 14,500
Great Expectations Academy 8,000
Montessori de Santa Cruz 6,000
Total Public Schools 379,900
Private Schools
Los Ninos De Valle Pre Sch 10,000
St Andrews Pre School 3,000
Lourdes Catholic School 5,000
Wings on Words 5,000
Sacred Heart Catholic School 7,000
Total Private Schools 30,000
Total Schools 409,900
Youth Organizations
Arivaca 4H 1,700
Ballet Continental 22,000
Big Brothers-Sisters 4,000
Boys & Girls Club - Santa Cruz 35,000
BSA - Catalina Council 6,000
Copper Hills Little League 7,000
Funhouse Movement Theatre 3,000
Sahuarita/GV 49ers Youth Football
and Cheer 3,000
Wright Flight 20,000
Girl Scout of Southern Arizona 5,000
Sahuarita Stingrays Swim Team 2,000
Rich River Athletic Club 1,800
Wisdom Sports & Scholars 5,000
Exchange Club 3,500
Total Youth Organizations 119,000
National Disease
APDA Parkinsons Support Group 16,000
Sabbar Shrine Temple 2,000
Alzheimers Assoc - SW Chapter 12,000
Total National Disease 30,000
Adult / Child Assistance
Amado Community Food Bank 55,000
Amado/Sahuarita Adult Learning 6,000
American Heartline 1,000
Arivaca Human Resources 10,000
Arizona Children’s Assoc 15,000
Borderlands Foodbank 50,000
Casa Community Service - Adult 30,000
Casa Community Service - Behavior 18,000
Casa Community Center 19,000
Crossroads Nogales Mission 20,000
Desert Dove Farm 1,000
Valley Assistance Services 35,000
Green Valley CERT Council 1,000
GV-Sah Community Food Bank 60,000
Green Valley Recreation 6,000
Green Valley Senior Games 1,500
Military Order of WWS 1,500
Arivaca Comm Center - Facilities 8,000
Arivaca Comm Center - Park & Rec 5,000
Rebuilding Together 10,000
Ronald McDonald House 8,000
Sahuarita Police Citizens VIP 5,000
St Andrew’s Clinic 65,000
Santa Cruz Sheriff DARE 5,000
Sahuarita Police Youth Fund 2,000
Santa Cruz County Search & Rescue 2,000
Santa Cruz Training Program 10,500
Sheriffs Auxiliary Volunteers 7,000
So Az Va Health Care System 10,000
Sun Sounds of Arizona 9,000
Teen Challenge 8,500
The Salvation Army 35,000
Tu Nidita Childrens & Family Clinic 5,000
Tucson Children’s Museum 6,000
United Community Health Care 30,000
Woodworkers of Green Valley 1,100
Santa Cruz Young Audiences 6,000
Youth on Their Own 7,000
Bag It 7,000
Angels Purse 4,000
Hands of a Friend 5,000
Nogales Community Food Bank 45,000
Pima Council on Aging 2,000
Arivaca Action Center 2,000
Sahuarita Food Bank 20,000
GVC Foundation 9,000
Friends in Deed 2,500
Arivaca Helping Hearts 2,000
Total Adult / Child Assistance 673,600
Community Arts Support
Arizona Aerospace Found - Titan 6,000
Green Valley Concert Band 3,000
Green Valley Stage Band 1,500
Hilltop Art Gallery 4,000
Tubac Center for the Arts 8,000
GEA Jazz Band 3,000
Community Center Performing Arts 10,000
Green Valley Community Chorus 1,500
So. Arizona Symphony Orchestra 1,000
Total Community Arts Support 38,000
Area and Nature Study
Friends of the Presidio 1,200
Green Valley Gardeners 5,000
Santa Cruz Humane Society 25,000
Friends of Madera Canyon 2,800
Tubac Historical Society 3,000
Median Green 6,000
Paws Patrol 2,000
Equine Voices 4,500
Total Area and Nature Study 49,500
Rural Fire Depts
AFD Auxiliary 11,000
Elephant Head Volunteer Fire Dept 32,000
Helmet Peak Volunteer Fire Dept 32,000
Green Valley Fire District 5,000
Total Rural Fire Depts 80,000
Total Outside Grants 1,400,000