The Scottsdale Charros do one thing in the community of Scottsdale: give back.
A view of a recent check presentation to from the group to the Boys and Girls Club effort.
The philanthropic outfit is hosting a community celebration from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 16 to bring together community partners and show how dollars raised get back to the community.
Dennis Robbins
“The Charros are hosting the Nov. 16 event so that we have the opportunity to thank our baseball advertisers and sponsors, we invite city and community leaders so they can hear and see what the Charros are doing in the community and, finally, we have some of our grant recipients at the event so that they can be recognized and so that the baseball advertisers can see what the Charros do with the money they spend to go to a spring training game,” said Dennis Robbins, executive director of the Scottsdale Charros.
For 55 years the Scottsdale Charros have been in constant pursuit of improving the lives of Scottsdale residents while preserving the community’s ties to its western heritage.
“It is important for the Charros to exist so that we maintain a tie to our western heritage, so that we can provide an exceptional experience at spring training, which is a signature tourist event, and so that we can give back to the community in so many varied and diverse ways,” Mr. Robbins said of the focus of the Scottsdale Charros.
“To explain it in the reverse, if the Charros did not exist many important community benefits would just not happen.”
Mr. Robbins points out the various endeavors the Charros support including: future teacher scholarship, masters in education scholarship, an SCC scholarship, All-city athletic scholarship, iTeachAZ a partnership with ASU, Educational grants to SUSD schools, youth luncheon and baseball clinic and our student/teacher awards banquet.
“In addition, the $305,000 received by the 37 charities would not exist,” Mr. Robbins says of Charro efforts. “Finally, the innovation of the Charros would not exist. Members of the Charros have helped to start many organizations in Scottsdale: Scottsdale Community College, SUSD Foundation, BUSS, and Scottsdale Leadership.”
Dave Westra, current Patron of the Scottsdale Charros, says he finds great value in the efforts of the group to support the public education system.
“My favorite initiative of the Scottsdale Charros is our support of the Scottsdale public school system,” he said.
“Almost everyone in my family has been an educator, including my wife, my parents, my mother-in-law, grandparents, and numerous aunts and uncles.”
It means a lot to Mr. Westra to recognize the hard work and sacrifice of local educators.
“I love that we provide scholarships to current and future teachers,” he said.
“I love that we recognize outstanding educators and students. And, I love that we provide financial assistance to every public school in Scottsdale to help them fund initiatives that may not be in their budget.”
The No. 1 goal of the Scottsdale Charros is to support the community of Scottsdale, Mr. Westra points out.
“It is critical to our success to have wonderful partners like the City of Scottsdale, the San Francisco Giants, and Scottsdale Unified School District,” he said. “At the end of the day, all of our ultimate objectives are to improve our community.”
–By Terrace Thornton