Scottsdale Community College Hospitality Professor and Students Partner with Fountain Hills High School to Collect Backpacks for Ugandan Children

Scottsdale, AZ (August 19, 2009) – Hope 4 Kids International (H4KI) is a nonprofit organization that sponsors 900 orphans in Uganda, Africa, many whose parents have died of AIDS.  Scottsdale Community College’s Hospitality and Tourism professor, Janelle Hoffman, and her students, have been involved for the past 4 years.    

“My family sponsors two children through Hope 4 Kids International, Bachu in Uganda, Africa and Edwin in Trujillo, Peru.  My son Tanner, age 7 at the time, wouldn’t eat his dinner because he didn’t like it -- until I reminded him of Bachu and Edwin and what they don’t get to eat (the wonders of a mother's guilt!).  He then continued to ask me what else they don’t have and what we could send (I think he was hoping we could send them his dinner).” 

“So I promised if he ate his dinner that night I would call H4KI and find out what they needed.  I called and they told me the kids needed shoes (flip-flops is what they wear in Uganda).  At the same time, my SCC Hospitality Club students were talking about doing a community service project, so I offered up the project to collect flip-flops and they loved the idea.  So did everyone else in the area -- and we collected over 7,000 pairs!  Yes, I counted, and they were all stored in my house, and it smelled like plastic for a month!”

In 2006 Hoffman and her students collected 7,000 pairs of flip-flops to provide to the orphans.  In 2007 they raised the funds to provide goats to the children (giving an orphan a goat assists them in becoming self-reliant and is the equivalent of giving them a bank account which provides financial security and a pathway to further their education). 

In 2008 Hoffman and her students participated in the Net-a-Life project, which provides mosquito netting to the families to prevent the #1 killer of children in Uganda – Malaria.  And in 2009, this summer, they worked with Hope 4 Education and collected backpacks. 

The FCCLA Club (Family, Career & Community Leaders of America) at Fountain Hills High School, led by instructor Claire McWilliams, partnered with Hoffman this year to collect backpacks for the orphans.

“When I approached Claire at Fountain Hills High School about the project and asked her if she wanted to team up this year, as they also do a community service project each year, I had no idea they would take it to the next level and travel there!” said Hoffman.

“The club sent eight members to Uganda from July 21-August 3^rd as ambassadors of the club, school, and community, to deliver backpacks and to learn about the culture, the struggles, and the people of Uganda,” said McWilliams. 

The FHHS students decided on this project last August after Hoffman went to the school and presented the idea to them.  Although the economy has been a challenge, the students remained dedicated to their commitment, and against all odds, raised the money they needed to go to Uganda.   “They named their project “2uHeartFH” (To Uganda, Love, Fountain Hills),” said McWilliams. 

“350 fully-loaded backpacks were collected from students on all campuses in the district, the Fountain Hills Charter School, Scottsdale Community College and members of the Fountain Hills community,” she said. 

According to McWilliams, the students returned from Uganda with stories of safari wildlife, the tremendous excitement they witnessed while distributing the backpacks, completing projects such as painting, mud-hut making, compression brick and stove making, reaching out to widows and downtrodden women, and of the lasting impression of the beautiful and joy-filled Ugandan children.

SCC participated by donating backpacks and school supplies.  According to Hoffman, donations came from faculty, staff and students, as well as staff from the Maricopa Community Colleges IT department, who challenged their department to make a donation. 

“They surprised me the last week of the project with 60+ backpacks,” said Hoffman.

On August 18^th 2009 the group came back together for a “Uganda Night” event at Fountain Hills High to share their personal stories from the trip.

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Photo captions (top to bottom)--

Photo 1: Preschool children from the Smile Africa school rush to meet the members of FHHS’ Team U.  Ugandan children are friendly, loving, and curious human beings.

Photo 2:  Members of Team U distribute backpacks to orphans in Tororo, Uganda.  Their excitement in receiving the backpacks was astonishing.

Photo 3: Team U member Chrissy Krumm poses with a recipient of the backpacks from the Fountain Hills/Scottsdale Community College drive.

Photo 4:  Ugandan children face realities of life and death, poverty and need unlike most Americans have ever known.  Even still, they show great hospitality and love toward visitors to their country.

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Scottsdale Community College offers over 1,500 academic and non-credit classes each semester. Located on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, the campus is known for its serene atmosphere and beautiful plant and wildlife. With nearly 12,000 students, Scottsdale Community College is proud to offer high-quality, affordable programs in small class settings. From Motion Picture/Television Production and Culinary Arts to Nursing and American Indian Studies, students have a wide variety of programs from which to earn credits for university transfer, launch their careers, train for new ones, or pursue a special interest. The SCC Business Institute offers customized programs to meet the needs of local business. Scottsdale Community College is one of the ten Maricopa Community Colleges.

To learn about the many academic programs at Scottsdale Community College, call us at (480) 423-6000 or visit our website at www.scottsdalecc.edu.

Media contact:
Denise Kronsteiner
(480) 423-6567
denise.kronsteiner@sccmail.maricopa.edu