TERO’s WIOA youth program sends Christmas cheer to Community veterans

January 10, 2017

Thomas R. Throssell

Gila River Indian News

Members of the Workforce Innovations and Opportunity Act (WIOA) youth program packed up to 90 Christmas gift baskets for Gila River Indian Community veterans and delivered the seasonal bundles of joy with the help of AmeriCorps.

The gift baskets were filled with thank you notes expressing gratitude for their service and positive contribution to the Community. A long with thank you notes, the baskets were filled with hot cocoa, coffee, mugs, and a variety of snacks.

The WIOA program is made up of Community youth from the ages of 14 to 24 years old.

Members of the program are engaged in monthly activities, one of which was the gift basket project, in order to help engage them to stay in school and learn about different career opportunities.

Four of the program’s members also delivered gift baskets to the Caring House, and Lt. Gov. Monica Antone and Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis.

WIOA Training Coordinator, Eulonda Martinez, said that they stopped by the Executive Office to thank tribal leadership for their support.

“We decided to drop two more gift baskets for Governor and Lt. Governor, to thank them for their services. For everything they do for the Community and the youth programs as well,” she said.

When asked about what the program was doing for her, Tianna Sanchez said, “I think it is an opportunity for myself to be out forward with everybody and just making people happy,” she said. “For myself, being happy instead of being somewhere getting in trouble, I can do this and get something out of it,” she added.

Former Jr. Miss Gila River Charisma Quiroz, who participated in putting together the baskets and delivering them, said that her motivation for taking part in giving Christmas gift baskets to Community veterans was because they had made their own sacrifices and really helped the Community over the years.

The WIOA program is recruiting members for their summer youth program starting January 2017 and will prioritize high school juniors, seniors, and out of school youth, ages 18-24.

“They can work for the summer for seven weeks and we try to give them work experience in different career areas that they have interests in. It’s a great program,” said Martinez.

For more information about WIOA’s summer youth program, call the Employment and Training Department at (520) 562-3388.