First row, from left: Kathy Calabrese, Executive Director of Good Neighbor Alliance; Barbara Martinez, Clinical Care Manager for the Women’s Transition Project at the Renaissance House; Jane Strain, Chair of the Cochise College Governing Board; Denise Hoyos, Executive Director of the Cochise College Foundation. Second row: John Pray, Behavioral Health Worker with the Cochise County Children’s Center; Troy Lopes, representing Catholic Community Services; J.D. Rottweiler, President of Cochise College.
SIERRA VISTA — Cochise College is donating 12 tricycles, assembled by college faculty and staff, to four local organizations to be used by children in Cochise County.
Representatives from Good Neighbor Alliance, Renaissance House, Cochise County Children’s Center and Catholic Community Services, which runs the Forgach House Domestic Crisis Shelter and House of Hope, were each presented with the trikes Thursday, Sept. 5, on the Sierra Vista Campus.
“Trikes for Tikes” was offered as a team building exercise for college employees at Convocation on Aug. 12. Convocation is an annual event at the college that includes all-day professional development sessions for faculty and staff to prepare for the academic year.
Employees who signed up for the Trikes for Tikes session broke into teams of four to six people and were tasked with assembling a tricycle without speaking to each other. The fastest team — Scott Brown, James Krause, Randy Fox and Janet Cramer, coached by Mark Schmitt — finished piecing together its trike in 15 minutes, 30 seconds.
“The activity was designed to build team spirit among our faculty and staff with an ultimate goal of giving something back to the community,” said Sheila DeVoe Heidman, Dean of Extended Learning. “We all need to support the communities we live in, and that means the college, too.”
The tricycle assembly kits were purchased through the Cochise College Foundation, using funds designated to support staff development, according to Denise Hoyos, the foundation’s executive director.
“It’s nice that they will have a use beyond their purpose here at the college,” Hoyos added.
Assembling trikes for tikes for local children fit well with the theme of Convocation 2013: “Building Communities.” Local service organizations were also invited to set up tables in the library and visit with college employees.
“They were all extremely pleased and several were happy to talk with faculty about some possible class projects,” DeVoe Heidman said.