The Sahuaro Families in Need Drive is held every holiday season and has been for as long as counselor Mrs. Echols has worked at the school, maybe even longer. As the head of the counseling department, Mrs. Echols has been in charge of organizing the annual drive for nine years now.  This year, the drive will be helping five families just in time for the holidays.

One of Mrs. Echols’ favorite parts of organizing the drive is letting the families know that they’ve been selected and seeing the school come together and donating the money. “I’m just the organizer, but its really the people that donate that really pull everything together and can help these families in what can be such a financially stressful time.”

The drive collects gift cards and monetary items for Sahuaro families who may have lost their main source of income, suffered a death in the family, are living in a shelter, or had to move in with family to afford housing. The drive is accepting items from anyone, starting November fourteenth up to December fourteenth.

Another Sahuaro holiday drive is The Angels Tree in the nurse’s office. Each ‘Angel’ represents one of our own Sahuaro students. Ms. Machado and nurse Duncan ask Sahuaro staff to take an ‘Angel’ home beginning November 15th. There are a variety of items that they have gathered for students in need who created a ‘wish list’. Takers of the angels do not have to purchase everything on the list; it is to assist with gift selection.  They encourage others to be creative, have fun, and remember—GIVING IS BETTER THAN RECEIVING.  “You’ll feel so good inside knowing you have helped one of our own students here at Sahuaro High School,” Ms. Machado writes.

Happy Holidays 🙂