High school students award $38,000 to local nonprofits desertsun.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from desertsun.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Desert Sands Unified once again making beautiful music
Mary E. B. Perry
Desert Sands Unified School District (DSUSD) schools, the
Desert Sands Educational Foundation (DSEF), with funds provided by an
Inland Empire Community Foundation grant, recently purchased more than 1,000 instrument bell covers for the music programs throughout the district. With these covers, all 11 DSUSD bands can now practice and perform indoors while following all current COVID regulations. The covers prevent the cross contamination and spread of droplet infection.
“It is great to be able to play with the students again in person, said
Michael Fleischmann, Ed.D., director of music from Desert Ridge Academy. Being able to play indoors with the weather changing is also a game changer for us. Thank you for your support of our programs.”
All-volunteer organization,
Safe Schools Desert Cities has been empowering local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex youth (LGBTQI+), their allies and GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) advisors since 2012. The organization works to create opportunities that foster individual growth as well as create community. These goals are achieved by providing education, guidance, advocacy, resources, recreational activities and opportunities for self-expression.
While the organization has been mostly dark during distance learning, Safe School plans to resume all its normal operations when school reopens. This will include events like the
Pride Prom, the
Rainbow Youth Summit and connecting with GSA advisors.
The organization provides one liaison to each school district, periodically meeting with the schools’ GSA advisors, learning about the needs of the schools and providing a calendar of events. Safe Schools also provides financial support for T-shirts, backpacks and o
Coachella Valley organization helps low-income seniors secure benefits
Rebecca O Connor
As a geriatric social worker,
Chris O Hanlon encountered many seniors who were missing out on income, health care and housing benefits. Often times, seniors didn’t know these benefits were available or got frustrated with the application process and quit.
When O’Hanlon looked around, he discovered there were no organizations focusing on this issue, so in November 2011, he founded
Senior Advocates of the Desert and began giving seniors the assistance they needed to identify benefits available and manage the paperwork. He also gave them an advocate and someone who would hold agencies accountable for best practices and processing.