Safford Shriners Project continues for the 18th year

Shriners make season warmer

By Holly Roney, Contributing Writer Eastern Arizona Courier

For the 18th year, the Shriners Club has made the winters warmer for children of needy families.

Members of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, or Shriners Club, of the Shrine Temple in Tucson, met 100 qualifying children Dec. 18 at the Safford Walmart, where they provided $80 for each child to buy clothes.

Children are selected by teachers and nurses in Safford, Thatcher and Pima schools. They are mostly from kindergarten through eighth grade, and a few are from local preschools. The teachers work with the children every day, so they have a good idea which ones need help the most.

Priscilla and Jose Ruiz and their children, David, 5, and Ashley, 4, shop for clothes during the Shriners annual Clothe a Child drive. Photo by Holly Roney

Clothing 100 children costs the Shriners Club $8,000. This year, members raised $8,255, so the extra will go toward next year’s Clothe a Child project. The money is donated by businesses and individuals, or as Shrine Club President Dolan Campbell joked, “We beg, buy, bum, borrow and steal it.”

The Shriners also provided $80 each to four children from a family in need last October.

Eighteen years ago, when the Shriners started the Clothe a Child project in the Gila Valley, they raised enough money to provide clothes for 22 children. That number grew each year until they were able to help 100, which is now their goal every year.

“We love doing this,” said many of the club members present.

The AAONMS is the world’s largest philanthropy. Its biggest program works with children in hospitals. It supports approximately 1,600 patients in southeast Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, providing them with transportation as well as helping to cover the hospital bills. The club operates 22 hospitals throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well.

As for the families of the children who received money for clothes from the Shriners Club, all expressed their gratitude.

“It was great that they did this. I hope I have an opportunity to repay them,” John Machin said as his two oldest children headed toward the checkout aisle.

Ginger Dixon, a recently widowed mother of six, said, “I think it really helps out a lot, especially for people in my situation.” Five of her six children are in school and received clothing.

The children enthusiastically said. “It’s awesome!”