Education briefs: Food drive

Tutor Time Child Care Learning Centers, Childtime Learning Centers and La Petite Academy are hosting a food drive benefiting St. Vincent de Paul.

All Phoenix and Tucson areas will be collecting food and grocery items throughout December between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Locations can be found by visiting www.tutortime.com, www.childtime.com and www.lapetite.com. All donated items will be delivered to St. Vincent de Paul, which serves homeless and disadvantaged populations.

Church helps Navajo families

For the past seven years, Phoenix residents have helped members of the St. Michael Indian School on the Navajo reservation in northeastern Arizona.

On Friday, the group, based out of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in northeast Phoenix, will travel to the reservation with food, holiday gifts and clothing for 232 families who have been "adopted."

The group had hoped to help 277 families, but it has been a challenging year with the economic downturn. Many who couldn't donate money, dropped off food.

If you would like to make a donation, drop them off at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, 3801 E. Greenway Road.

Environmental grants

Valley Forward, a non-profit environmental public-interest organization is sponsoring grants of more than $5,000. Arizona teachers for grades K-12 may apply for the grants to be used towards activities in their classroom, school or in the community.

The grant is made possible by STMicroelectronics.

Valley Forward will award one or more grants for projects that focus on such topics as water, air, land, plants and animals, recycling, transportation and energy.

Application forms are available by calling 602-240-2408 or can be downloaded online at www.valleyforward.org. The deadline for submissions is 4 p.m. Friday. Recipients will be announced on or before Jan. 12.

School hosts homeless

Career Success School, an inner-city charter school for at-risk youths, hosted its second annual Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless in November.

Career Success serves students who in the traditional public-school system were unsuccessful and would not have the opportunity otherwise to complete high school and receive their diploma. The families from Career Success prepared the meals. For the students, it was a chance to learn the importance of giving back to their community.