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Haboobs roll in with Arizona’s monsoon season
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This Week
NEWS ........................... 11 Chandler man illegally sold securities, owes more than $1.5 million, officials say
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West Mesa Edition
INSIDE
Mesa’s Winkle vows to fight for his job Sunday, June 18, 2017
Water safety focus turns to adult drownings BY JIM WALSH Tribune Staff Writer
P
ediatric drownings are heartbreaking, preventable tragedies that leave lifelong emotional scars on family members, firefighters and neighborhoods, but there are many other drownings that have
received little or no attention. Safety campaigns since the 1980s have consistently focused on reducing and preventing pediatric drownings, with everyone agreeing there was a need to protect the most vulnerable victims. But adult drownings are entirely different events with the
same tragic results. Instead of vulnerable toddlers innocently wandering into life-threatening bodies of water, adult drowning victims often have used alcohol or drugs, have experienced some sort of unanticipated medical emergency or have overestimated their ability to swim. When the Coalition to Prevent
Drowning in Arizona observed pediatric drowning fatalities dropping in the past two decades, the result of pool fence laws and campaigns to increase vigilant adult supervision of children around water, it noticed a surprising and troubling trend. See
DROWNINGS on page 10
Summer program feeds hungry East Valley students BY WAYNE SCHUTSKY Tribune Staff Writer
COMMUNITY ........ 13 Dogs’ bacterial disease can spread to humans, area vets warn
BUSINESS . ................ 17 Specialty car dealer sells souped-up classic vehicles
STAGE ........................ 24 Corona High senior debuts in ‘Little Mermaid’ title role
BUSINESS....................... .17 OPINION....................... 18 SPORTS.......................... 19 FAITH.............................. 22 CLASSIFIED.................... 27
T
he beginning of summer is typically a time of celebration for children as school comes to an end and vacations, pool parties and camp fill the schedule. However, for youth that suffer from hunger, the end of the school year is much less joyous. Arizona has one of the highest rates of food insecurity in the country, with one in four children facing hunger everyday. For many of those children, the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program is an invaluable resource “650,000 children participate in the National School Lunch Program, and it is a wonderful way to consistently feed children who need that source of nutrition to be in class, to learn, to thrive,” said Association of Arizona Food Banks CEO Angie Rodgers. Around 78 percent of those children receive free or reduced-price lunch. When school ends, so do those meals. “If you take all of those meals out of the equation, kids struggle to get that source of care,” Rodgers said. “Kids rely on school to receive regular meals, and they struggle in summer.” That is where the Summer Food Service Program comes in. It is a federally funded program designed to give low-income children access to meals when school is out. The program is funded through the USDA and administered in Arizona by the state Department of Education.
(Kimberly Carrillo/Tribune Staff Photographer)
Ryan, Brady, Katlyn and Courtney Dillworth have a meal at Folley Pool in Chandler. The Chandler Unified School District hosts meals at 13 sites across the city, including some locations at city pools.
The Department of Education regulates the program, conducts site visits, administers all required training for site sponsors and ensures that all prospective sponsors meet eligibility and budget requirements. There are over 1,000 sites where children can receive SFSP meals in Arizona, including many schools and Boys & Girls Club locations. However, site sponsors are making an effort to diversify their locations in order to go to where the kids are. “We encourage sponsors to have
activities at their sites,” said Kenny Barnes, Department of Education summer food program specialist. “That way, they can stay from breakfast through lunch, and it keeps them occupied” in a controlled, supervised environment, he said. The Chandler Unified School District alone hosts 13 sites across the city, including some locations at city pools. The SFSP sites are set up outside of the pool gates so that See
FOOD PROGRAM on page 8