By Bonnie Briscoe, DAR member
The week of Valentine’s Day is approaching rapidly and, the Gila Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is preparing for their annual “Strawberries for Scholarships and Student Awards” fundraiser.
Last year, the students in the Culinary Arts Department at Mount Graham High School were so successful in helping the DAR that they are back this year creating plates of assorted chocolate covered strawberries under the supervision of their teacher, Mrs. Sheila Pompeo.
Over the past nine years, the DAR chapter has offered these strawberries on Valentine’s Day. The big change for this year is they will be ready for pickup two days before Valentine’s on Wednesday, Feb 12 , due to the school’s schedule.
In gearing up, the chapter is currently taking orders for their plates of freshly dipped, assorted chocolate-covered strawberries. The cutoff date for accepting orders is Feb 5 at 6:00 PM. DAR recommends texting or calling ahead before the cutoff date in case supplies run out due to demand.
As in the past, the assorted topping will include the following: 1 Dark Chocolate, 1 White Chocolate, 1 Dark Chocolate coated with Pecans, 1 White Chocolate coated with Pecans, 1 White Chocolate with Milk Chocolate swizzles and 1 Milk Chocolate with White Chocolate swizzles.
A dozen plate at $20 will include two of each topping and a half-dozen plate at $10 will have one of each topping.
To place an order: text or call 928-432-5122 and give your name, phone number and number of plate size desired or contact someone you know in the DAR chapter to take your order.
In addition to helping with the strawberries, Mount Graham High School will be the pickup location as it was last year. Pickup is two days before Valentine’s Day (Feb 12) from 3:30 PM – 6:30 PM. The school is east of the Safford Cemetery at 300 W. Discovery Park Blvd in Safford. Look for the signs on the fence. Payment, in the form of cash or check, is due at pickup.
The money raised from these sales goes toward providing scholarships to local high school students in Graham County who are dual-enrolled in general education classes at EAC and submit a winning essay in the chapter’s Patriotic Essay Contest. With this fundraiser being successful every year, the DAR chapter offers four scholarships valued at $600, $500, $400 and $300 to help with tuition and books.
The funds also go toward student awards, giving a monetary gift of $50 in May to one senior from each of the seven high schools in Graham and Greenlee counties who is chosen by the school for the DAR Good Citizen Award.
With students submitting essays and high schools choosing good citizens, this has always been strong encouragement for the chapter to continue this Valentine’s Week tradition; “Strawberries for Scholarships and Student Awards!”
