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Phoenix corps benefit from Armstrong Family Foundation.
by Melissa Axman –
Longtime supporters of The Salvation Army, Jim and Jo-Ann Armstrong, recently sponsored a volunteer project at the Phoenix Citadel’s Laura Danieli Senior Activity Center. Nineteen Arizona State University (ASU) scholarship students from the Armstrong Family Foundation gave the center a much-needed makeover. The students painted, cleaned the carpets and the sofas in the library, replaced the ceiling tiles in the kitchen and built and stained two picnic tables. In nine short hours, the volunteers completed the transformation. Participation in this volunteer project is part of each student’s scholarship fulfillment. The project also included renovating the restrooms, which was done by a contractor the following weekend.
Jim and Jo-Ann Armstrong have supported The Salvation Army for more than 15 years. In 1998, The Armstrong Family Foundation recognized the severity of the educational challenges in the South Mountain Community in Phoenix. They agreed to build a tutoring wing at the South Mountain Corps and to fund a program that would create a collaborative and innovative learning environment. They endowed the Armstrong Learning Center at South Mountain where students attending ASU tutor children after school each day. Significant grade school improvements show the success of the program.
The Armstrong Family Foundation, The Salvation Army, and the ASU Service Learning Program now serve as the primary partners in a collaboration aimed at helping children achieve their academic potential.
With the completion of the Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center, the ASU Service Learning Program plans to expand the tutoring program. The Armstrongs donated $2.2 million in 2007 to endow the Armstrong Learning Center at the South Mountain Corps and at the new Kroc center upon its completion. Both The Salvation Army and the Armstrongs look forward to growing these educational programs, encouraging and assisting as many students as possible to excel in education.
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