Residents give back This Holiday Season

Communities Come Together to Give Back Over the Holiday Season

The holiday season is one filled with the spirit of giving, and is filled with plenty of opportunities to help others. Residents of Sahuarita take advantage of those opportunities in a big way each year, giving of their time and resources to help those in need in a variety of ways. After the challenges of the past two years, many are in need of extra help now more than ever.

In Rancho Sahuarita, residents had the opportunity all season long to help a deserving local organization, Grace Retreat Foster Care and Adoption Services. Grace Retreat's mission is “to provide an environment where children are valued, loved and safe by placing them in the care of families who are respected, supported, and educated.” It was founded in 2015 by Christina Palma, a foster and adoptive parent.

Hailey Houser of Grace Retreat shared: “We stive to help families succeed at providing our children with the best home possible. Our agency prides itself on offering the highest-quality support for foster families. Foster Care is the primary program that Grace Retreat focuses on. We constantly devote our time, passion, and energy into making the program an exceptional one.”

She continued: “Being a successful foster parent requires a village of support behind you. The toy drive at Rancho Sahuarita not only lets the children in our homes have an amazing holiday experience but also shows our foster parents that the community supports them. The donations we received are greatly appreciated by the Grace Retreat staff, families and children.” This year, when presented with the opportunity to help this organization, Lifestyle Director Venessa McAdams says she didn’t hesitate. “Consistently each year, our residents always go above and beyond in their generosity, and this year was no exception. Being able to help an organization that has such a direct and profound impact on families is so important. So, we are glad to have been able to host the drive, and so grateful to our residents who participated.” Through efforts throughout the month of December and at the “Brunch with Santa and Toy Drive” event in December, nearly 200 new toys were collected.

Residents in Rancho Resort also give kindly to those in need each year, through the efforts of various drives and resident clubs. This year alone, at the community’s December Drive for the Sahuarita Food Bank, an incredible $7725 in monetary donations was collected. Sahuarita Food Bank Manager, Carlos Valles, said in a message to the community’s residents, “Thank you for being a tremendous supporter of the Sahuarita Food Bank and Community Resource Center. The residents of Rancho Resort are always very generous, and I want to personally thank everyone for their support.”

One of the resident clubs, the Sassy Sewers, also made and donated 30 cuddle pillows, 21 quilts and 24 crocheted blankets to the Ronald McDonald House. Residents also collectively donated over 80 toys for Toys for Tots.

Other collections and drives throughout Sahuarita gave area residents the opportunity to give back, such as collections at many local businesses and at churches throughout town. Despite the lingering challenges of the pandemic, the generosity of the residents of Sahuarita is undoubtable, and part of what makes the community such a special place. 

Consistently each year, our residents always go above and beyond in their generosity, and this year was no exception.

National Spaghetti Day

Pasta! According to Italians, there are more than 400 known pasta shapes. Wow, this is mind blowing! Of all the pasta to choose from, spaghetti is by far the most popular and most frequently cooked worldwide. There is no surprise that January 4th has been selected as National Spaghetti Day.

1st century B.C. is when the oldest recorded documentation of pasta is found in the writings of Roman poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus, referring to sheets of dough as lagana. Jumping to the 12th century, Sicily began its production of Spaghetti. In 1870, the combination of tomato juice and spaghetti was printed for the first time in Italian chef Francesco Leonardi’s cookbook, “L’Apicio moderno”. Moving on into the 20th century, spaghetti evolved to a more American style, being prepared with basil and or oregano.

Some Ways to Celebrate National Spaghetti Day.

• While preparing your spaghetti it is said that if you throw a noodle on the wall, if it sticks your pasta is perfect and ready to serve.

• Host a spaghetti around the world party.

Spaghetti does not just have to be served topped with a tomato based marinara sauce.

You can take spaghetti to a whole different level with inspirations of Chinese or Indian or hispanic flavors.

• Try your hand at homemade spaghetti. You may just surprise yourself and love it. Pasta can be very sophisticated or extremely messy. If you have seen young children indulge in this great meal, they are literally wearing it before the meal is done. As adults you try to be a bit more put together while eating this pasta. Many cut the noodles to get a clean bite, or the most common way is to use your fork and twirl the pasta.

There are so many ways spaghetti has changed over the centuries, as far as just having spaghetti noodles and a basic tomato based marinara sauce. Many add meat such as shrimp, sausage, and or beef. You can have your spaghetti with a white cream sauce, or a meat based sauce.

Have you ever gone outside of the box and created your own version of spaghetti? Spaghetti is a fairly cheap, easy and quick meal. It is filling and very much so enjoyed here in America. It is said that Americans consume more than 6 billion pounds of pasta a year. In comparison, about 63% of Italians said they eat pasta either everyday or almost every day.

On Tuesday January 4, 2022, celebrate National Spaghetti Day.

JANUARY

Night Sky

JANUARY 2 - NEW MOON. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This phase occurs at 18:35 UTC. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

JANUARY 3, 4 - QUADRANTIDS METEOR SHOWER. The Quadrantids is an above average shower, with up to 40 meteors per hour at its peak. It is thought to be produced by dust grains left behind by an extinct comet known as 2003 EH1, which was discovered in 2003. The shower runs annually from January 1-5. It peaks this year on the night of the 3rd and morning of the 4th. The thin, crescent moon will set early in the evening leaving dark skies for what should be an excellent show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Bootes, but can appear anywhere in the sky. to view Mercury since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the evening sky. Look for the planet low in the western sky just after sunset.

JANUARY 17 - FULL MOON. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 23:51 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Wolf Moon because this was the time of year when hungry wolf packs howled outside their camps. This moon has also been known as the Old Moon and the Moon After Yule.

JANUARY 7 - MERCURY AT GREATEST EASTERN ELONGATION. The planet Mercury reaches greatest eastern elongation of 19.2 degrees from the Sun. This is the best time