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Awards Honor Work in Schools: Businesses Are Good Resource for Educators, Compact Reminds People.

Posted on: Thursday, 2 March 2006, 15:01 CST

By Sanford Nax, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

Mar. 2--Schools looking for more resources should consider turning to business for help, says Lucy Vasquez, who knows better than most.

The community relations liaison and after-school coordinator at Cooper Middle School in Fresno has over the last 13 years carved out dozens of partnerships with local businesses.

"Schools with limited resources can find what they need in the community," Vasquez said Wednesday, after being honored with the 2006 Harold Haak Award for Educational Excellence at the 10th annual Fresno Compact Awards luncheon. The compact is an effort by business and education to boost school programs.

The luncheon honored Vasquez and 10 central San Joaquin Valley businesses that have forged strong bonds with schools.

Being a two-year school, Cooper has trouble making lasting relationships with parents, but Vasquez said she has been able to establish commitments with 140 businesses and groups.

Among the commitments: eyeglasses from LensCrafters, health and fitness education from Health Net, tickets to the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra and an after-school program that 60% of the students attend.

Those businesses and organizations are just a few that have established relationships with schools. A wide range of companies were honored Wednesday for an equally wide range of programs.

They were:

Blair, Church & Flynn Consulting Engineers, which developed a model to show students at Fancher Creek Elementary School how pumps and valves work inside the body and has supported the robotics team at the Center for Advanced Research and Technology.

Budles Farms, which has provided equipment for agriculture classes at Riverdale Joint Unified School District. Bud Mendes also has been an assistant announcer at home football games for a decade.

Comcast Cable, which sponsors a popular "Math On Call" program that aided more than 5,000 students last year.

Home Depot, with more than 175 employees from around the area who helped assemble a playground structure and revamped landscaping at Roosevelt Elementary School.

Internal Revenue Service, more than 70 mentors from which tutor students at Roosevelt High School's CDE Academy. The IRS also trains student volunteers to file taxes online.

John's Body Shop, whose John Velasquez provides materials, supplies and staff for the setup, scenery and props associated with Madison Elementary School's drama program.

RBC Dain Raucher, an investment firm that funds Dailey Elementary School's annual sixth-grade trip and tutors students.

RZR Sanger Development, which pledges $500 for every new home sold to Sanger Unified School District. The company also donated 12 acres for a new elementary school.

Spino's Landscaping and Nursery, which donates resources to vocational, agriculture and other programs to schools in Central Unified School District.

Saint Agnes Medical Center, which has donated more than $150,000 over the last six years to the Foundation for Clovis Schools.

The reporter can be reached at snax@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6495.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Fresno Bee, Calif.

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Source: The Fresno Bee

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