Support Our Troops – Arizona – Robson Ranch 2014 – A banner year in review

Listed are the accomplishments of Support Our Troops, Robson Ranch Arizona, as a result of your participation and generous donations.

Veterans Services Committee led by Tom Walton and Troop Appreciation Committee led by Rich Harris: $20,000+ was provided to local veterans and their families in the form of rent assistance, overdue utility bill payments, food, clothing and mobility support.

Pinal County Veterans Stand-Down: Kathy Roche did an amazing job filling the 140 canteen bags with over $5,000 in toiletries and useful personal items. These bags were handed out to the participating veterans. Rich Harris did a great job of setting up transportation routes to the event. Due to minimal attendance, the remaining bags were distributed to our local Eloy, Casa Grande and Tucson VA centers.

“Songs of America,” our spring show, featured Urban Country Band from Phoenix. More than 250 residents enjoyed listening and dancing to country music on a picture-perfect Arizona day and raised another $4,300 for our local vets. Many thanks to our volunteers and neighbors on Globe and Corral Drives who helped make this event fun and profitable!

Eloy Veterans Center: During the year, SOT-AZ-RR members worked with the City of Eloy and contributed over $1,000 along with lots of sweat equity to clean and renovate this new center. Funds were provided to help six families enjoy a Christmas dinner. A special thank you to Mary Lou and Tom Walton and Chris and Terry Clark for providing the turkeys and hams.

Flag Committee led by Paul Lewinski, Jim Ilten and Jim Price: over 200 American flags have been placed at RR homes and close to 200 flags line Robson Blvd. and Harris Hawk Lane. On designated flag days the generous time donated by this committee and individual home owners who purchased their flag transforms Robson Ranch into a patriotic beauty.

Golf Tournament Veterans Day 2014: the committee led by Jerry Koppy, Steve Anderson and Dave Kantrud worked countless hours collecting donations from Robson Ranch residents and local businesses, making this year’s net revenues a record breaking $60,000.

The first pre-golf tournament live auction was a huge success thanks to Steve and Pat Anderson, Chuck Bonesteel and Mickie Storckman for planning and coordinating the event in front of their homes. This over-the-top auction, highlighted by two large landscaping packages donated by Earth, Water & Fire, raised a major portion of our record-breaking revenues!

Our resident chefs, Steve Haber and Dennis Kihlstrom, fired up the grills for mouth-watering BBQ for our bidders.

RR residents along with Earth, Water & Fire graciously donated over $10,000 worth of raffle prizes.

Golf teams signed up early to take advantage of bonus raffle tickets, leaving many golfers on the wait list. Golfers had many chances to enhance their final scores with more fundraising games throughout the course.

Christmas for Vets: Karen and Bob Furu coordinated SOT-AZ-RR volunteers who provided over $4,000 of support to 11 Vets and 24 family members with warm clothing, space heaters, blankets and gifts for children. Each family also received a generous Fry’s Gift Card to purchase food and gas.

Additionally, with your generous support throughout the year, SOT-AZ-RR was able to provide:

Veteran burial costs

Move assistance

Transport a dying veteran’s daughter to her dad before he passed

Pay utilities, rent, housing and transportation bills

Our new 2015 board: Dave Kantrud, president; Steve Anderson, secretary; Jim Ensweiler, treasurer; Bonnie Pixley, Jeff Jones, Tom Walton along with returning director BJ Foster, VP invite you to join SOT-AZ-RR. A special thanks to our retiring board: Jim Law, Gerard Whitman, Mel Foster, Karen Furu and Kathy Roche for their dedication and service! And we want to thank all our current members for their continued contributions!