Residents
of Civano held a potluck
and benefit Friday
at the community center, followed by a concert.
The potluck and concert, along with a quilt raffle, arts and crafts show and book sale the next day, raised around $3,000 for the
Civano Community School.
The money will go to the arts, media and music program and other programs for the K-8 school. The goal is to offset budget cuts
, said organizer Mare Smith
, who owns the
Inn at Civano. "Three thousand dollars
probably doesn't put a dent in it but we are trying our hardest."
People are also reading…
The arts are
a vital part of education
, Smith said.
"One person told me, she was a retired goldsmith, that she would have never known that she could be a jeweler until she took an art class in high school," Smith said. "There are a lot of creative people in this world and we need to keep generating that from the earlier grades. In our small little piece of the world we can keep arts and theater
going for the kids."
Teacher Steve Hayes managed
the drinks booth with six
th-grader James Haverly
during the potluck
.
"We empower the kids so they feel their contributions are real. The kids are very intimately connected to the school," Hayes said. "It's meaningful for the kids to know that people sincerely care about the school
."
The event's
sponsors, including the Inn at Civano, LAVA
Music, and Civano Nursery
paid for nearly everything so there was no overhead.
"All of the donations go directly to the school. People can actually drop money in baskets and know it will go directly to the school," Smith said.
Contact photographer Dean Knuth at dknuth@azstarnet.com or 349-1625.
