East Valley Tribune Business - 03.15.2020

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east valley

Volume 2 Issue 33 Mesa, AZ

March 15, 2020

Mesa Ford dealer helps school lunch debt BY CHRISTOPHER BOAN

Tribune Staff Writer

A

IN THE BIZ

dams Elementary School in Mesa has one of the highest rates of free and reduced breakfast/ lunch programs in the Valley. According to city data, 86 percent of Adams’ students received free and reduced lunches in 2018 out of an enrollment of 693. That prompted Mesa resident and Larry H. Miller Ford Mesa General Manager Jim Crutche to seek out ways to help those in need. Crutche hosted a burrito breakfast at the dealership’s Pit Stop restaurant, using the sum of purchases and donations to cover the school’s reduced meal plans. The partnership, held in conjunction with National School Breakfast Week March 2-6, led the dealership to host 46 second-grade students from Adams to a free breakfast. Crutche believes the dealership’s partnership with Adams Elementary and Mesa Public Schools in general is a winwin for the youngest members of the community. “It’s been proven that if you skip breakfast, your memory isn’t as good and your learning isn’t as good,” Crutche said. “You really kick off your day with a really negative start, especially with children. “And so, we’re really fortunate that we’re the only dealership in the Larry H. Miller group of 65 dealerships that has Public Notices ............... page 2

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a restaurant. So, it’s a perfect tie in, because it’s a fundraiser for Adams Elementary.” Crutche also raised nearly $1,000 for the school, a lifesaver for Adams Principal Stephanie Montez. Montez has been seeking a community partner to help the school erase school breakfast and lunch debts and believes the donation from Crutche and his team can be a turning point for her students. “I think it’s great that we’re getting the awareness out about why school breakfast is so important,” she said. “There’s plenty of research out there to Youngsters from Adams Elementary School enjoyed a breakfast at Larry H. Miller Ford Mesa recently. (Special to the Tribune) show that if kids are hungry, then they rehave hungry kids in the United States ally can’t spend too much time thinking and that they’re doing something about about their reading or the math that that.” they’re doing because they’re just thinkMontez believes the donation will be ing about where their next meal is going especially helpful to students who don’t to come from,” she continued. use the program because of their par“So, I’m glad that Larry H. Miller was ents’ immigration status or other perwilling to bring awareness to this cause sonal reasons. to help other people realize that we do (USPS 004-616) is published weekly

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