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SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | OCTOBER 31, 2021
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Camino Campana honors cherished steward BY DAVID M. BROWN Progress Contributor
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or more than a quarter century, “Sam” Kathryn Campana has helped guide Scottsdale’s nurturing of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, and today, Oct. 31, City Council and the McDowell Sonoran Preserve Commission will thank her by naming its newest accessible trail after her. The 10 a.m. dedication of “Camino Campana” will include remarks by Preserve champions such as Joan Fudala, Scottsdale community historian and “lifetime member of the Sam Campana Fan Club.” Preserve stewards, Audubon Southwest citizen scientists and craftspeople from the Cattle Track Arts Compound will lead hikes on the one-mile trail. In addition, the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, a private volunteer group dedicat-
Former Scottsdale Mayor “Sam” Kathryn Campana and her family will be celebrating today’s dedication of a McDowell Sonoran trail named after her. (Special to the Progress)
ed to stewarding the preserve, will have Halloween educational exhibits and a
scavenger hunt for the children. Tice Supplee, Audubon Southwest di-
rector of bird conservation, will lead a bird walk and the Southwest Wildlife Conservation will showcase native desert animals, culminating in a hawk release by Liberty Wildlife. “I’m honored that the city chose to name this beautiful desert trail with our family name and honor our multicultural heritage in Scottsdale, too,” said Campana, a City Council member 1986– 1994 and the city’s first female mayor 1996–2000. On Oct. 3, 1994, Council dedicated 4.5 square miles of city-owned land as “Day One” of today’s 30,580-acre preserve – comprising about one-third of Scottsdale’s land area. With 225-plus miles of trails through varying Sonoran Desert topography, the venue is the largest municipal preserve in the country and attracts 1.2 million-
see CAMPANA page 23
Pearce Foundation bridges hospital-family disconnect
BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer
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or Meghan Alfonso, helping people is second nature. As a former marketing employee for the St. Joseph’s Foundation and the Phoenix Children’s Hospital Foundation who frequently helped put on events, she has a passion for raising awareness of – and funds for – sick children. The favorite part of her previous job was connecting with families of patients and helping them figure out what the diagnosis was and what to prepare for. From there she would do whatever she could to raise money and ease their struggles. However, Alfonso always wanted to do more.
Meghan Alfonso and her husband Sean were part of the Pearce Family Foundation’s first Angel Pups event. (Courtesy of the Pearce Family Foundation)
As a result, she decided to start her own non-profit organization and dedicate it to her great grandfather Zebulon Pearce, who was best known for being the founder of Pearce Beverage Co. and the first distributor of Coors beer in Arizona. “I started The Pearce Family Foundation because I saw there was a disconnect between the hospital and the home,” Alfonso said. “From what I understood, patients constantly forgot about their bills while spending time in the hospital.” Nearly eight years after starting the foundation, Alfonso has distributed between $250,000 to $275,000 among about 400 families with children suffering from
see PEARCE page 23
