PUSD Education Foundation honored at Joy of Giving event

By Abigail Celaya
Originally Published: August 11, 2025
The Daily Courier

The event was hosted by the Arizona Community Foundation of Yavapai County and attended by over 250 people. Agape House, PUSD Education Foundation and Gardens for Humanity were the event’s “shining stars.”

Paul Kirchgraber, executive director of the PUSD Education Foundation, gave a speech at the luncheon, highlighting the work the foundation does for schools and the community. He opened by sharing the challenges Arizona faces.

“Our state ranks near the bottom; in fact, we rank 48 in per-pupil spending,” Kirchgraber said to open his speech. “That’s not just a statistic, it’s a challenge. And it’s a challenge that 10 years ago this very month, a group of community members formed and put together the PUSD Education Foundation.”

Kirchgraber said the group put together a simple, but urgent mission: to support and advocate for teachers and children.

“We have a goal to close the gap that exists because of a lack of adequate funding for our public schools in this state,” Kirchgraber said. “In 10 short years, you have all helped us create and accomplish many things.”

One of those things was grants that go to individual teachers. Kirchgraber spoke of a teacher, Mr. Gray, whom they were able to provide STEM teaching materials to.

“He told me that without that funding, he couldn’t have bought laboratory equipment that students may never have seen until they got to college.”

The teacher’s supply closet is another resource the education foundation offers to educators to stock up their classrooms. Educators can come shop for everything from pens and paper to classroom decorations and hygiene. The resource has impacted many.

“Theresa is one of my favorite first grade teachers,” Kirchgraber said. “She has been teaching for three or four years and shared with me she spent $30 to $40 a month, month after month, to buy essential classroom supplies for her students or class, always hiding the credit card statement from her husband in the mail. Now, because she can shop at our teachers’ supply closet, she no longer has to decide between her paycheck and her class.”

The foundation also provides $100 gift cards from Walmart in connection with the Arizona Ranger program. The program has a ranger take one of the district’s students experiencing homelessness shopping so they may get new shoes, new underwear, clothes and hygiene equipment. He said if the total goes over, the ranger often pays money out of their own pocket to provide the child with what they need and never asks for reimbursement.

The PUSD Education Foundation also funds programs that support students experiencing homelessness and the Prescott Hungry Kids Project, which provides weekend meal packs to students in need.

High school seniors who “fly under the radar,” and persevere through adversity in their lives to graduate from high school are awarded at the Foundation’s Rising Stars award night, alon✕g with the teachers who guided and inspired them.

After listing the many programs the foundation has to offer, Kirchgraber acknowledged there is still much more they want to do.

“This is what the education foundation means to our community,” Kirchgraber said. “We have a lot more work to do; our teachers and students are counting on us. Thank you for believing in them and thank you for believing in us.”

A representative from all three organizations was given a chance to speak to tell potential donors and attendees about their work. There were 32 tables at the event, and the Arizona Community Foundation gave each table $350 to award to one of the nonprofits.

The tables had to work together and unanimously agree on who to give their $350 to. There were also additional cards made available to the teaching table where people could choose to donate their own money to one of the organizations.

After the tables were selected who would win the money. It was announced that the PUSD Education Foundation had received $2,800 from the tables.

By Abigail Celaya – The Daily Courier
Originally Published: August 11, 2025