Some of our favorite blog subjects are those that tell the stories about how the poor and needy neighborhoods and families are helped by kind and caring American residents and visitors to Rocky Point. There are hundreds who regularly support local non-profit organizations, many founded by American residents of our little slice of paradise 
by the sea who have been trusted for decades to distribute all types of donations to those in real need here. The generosity of virtually all these donors is matched only by their compassion to help others.
Among the stellar examples of local charities is Adopt-a-Classroom which has helped make school supplies available year around through local K-12 schools for tens of thousands of students over the last 15 years. As we’ve covered in previous blogs, the founders, Mark and Barb Olszewski, have devoted their lives to providing charitable services to all aspects of society here in Puerto Peñasco.
Adopt-a-Classroom just happens to be their longest running endeavor, which has included many special projects such as, most recently, sponsoring children whose families cannot afford even the basic expenses of books, tests, and uniforms necessary to attend school for a year. Last year Barb 
discovered a student in this situation and ended up with enough funds to sponsor a total of 12. This year she raised the funds to sponsor 18 more students from 
impoverished families.
These special projects are a result of the unbridled passion of the Olszewskis to find a way to help with any needs of the schools and school children. They never, however, sway from the primary goal of collecting school supplies to fulfill their distribution system developed directly with the school administrators and teachers over the years.
“We’ve worked for many years with the schools to come up with a proven system that has identified the most needed school supplies and make them available throughout the year,” Barb explains.
“The schools count on us to stock their storerooms with notebooks, pencils, erasers—a valued commodity—and many other simple supply needs like rulers, art paper, glue, stuff that goes on sale for pennies in the states, and is easy to bring down.
“And we make it even easier for anyone kind enough to bring us a box or two on any of these items. If they call us before or even after they get here, we’ll come by and pick up their donations,” she explains.
This year is the first in a long while that Barb’s school supply collection goals have not been met as yet. She tells us she still needs about 2-3,000 spiral notebooks along with a couple thousand of the other small supplies. She hastens to say that many sales are still going on in the larger big box stores. She also wants to emphasize that even if you are not planning to come down any time soon, you can call them on their U.S. number and she will notify the host of Adopt-a-Classroom followers and frequent 
visitors to find someone who can take the items down for you.
Mark and Barb have made it a simple, uncomplicated effort to help the schools help kids become a productive part of society as they mature. From the U.S. just call (602) 324-9529 to tell Barb you want to help, or you can email her at rpbarbo@gmail.com. If you get down to Rocky Point with supplies or other form of donations, just call her home or cell phone locally at: Home: 638-383-4963 or Cell: 638-114-2406. Your donations are always appreciated, and especially this year to help meet their goals, plus, you will enjoy chatting with either one of these two knowledgeable, dedicated 20 year residents of “Arizona’s beach.”
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