Around our volunteer hours there is a lot of time to explore the area and do fun things. Here are some of this winter's highlights.
Our friend, Randy, had a birthday during his bout with Covid so we had a socially distanced birthday party for him.
In Al's spare time he made tamales in our RV. This was the first time he made tamales since we went on the road. There isn't much room in the RV but he made it work.
We were asked to assist at an event where members from Phoenix non-profit organizations could meet with donors. Sunshine Acres was included in the event. The event was held at a huge warehouse in Phoenix where a fashion show using clothes donated to the center were showcased along with food grown in the Sunshine Acres greenhouse.
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Scenes made with donated items.
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Models getting ready for the fashion show.
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Nancy and Linda
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Tables for mingling
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Giant boxes and boxes of donated goods were used as a backdrop and spray painted for the event.
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Community Issue
Children's Issues
There are 15,000 kids in the foster care system in the state of Arizona. |
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Community Issue
Homelessness
On any given night at least 7,419 people experience homelessness in Maricopa County (Phoenix area).
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Community Issue
Addiction
There was an estimated 2768 fatal overdoses in Arizona over 12 months ending in April 2021 compare to 2154 over the same prior the year prior.
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Community Issue
Domestic Violence
Homicides involving domestic violence saw a 140% increase at the beginning of the pandemic compared to the year before. There were 102 domestic violence related deaths in Arizona in 2020 and 76 deaths in the first 11 months of 2021. |
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Community Issue
Human Trafficking
The average age of entry into the sex trade in Arizona is 14 years old. Law enforcement has seen girls as young as 9 sold for sex.
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This warehouse is a clearing house for items donated. Their mission is to match up the charities who need or can use the items.
Two local chefs used food grown in the Greenhouse to make appetizers and
juices. It was Al and my job to walk around with trays of food for the
guests to sample.
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| A portion of the runway before guests were seated. |
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The fashion show began.
Well, it was a strange event for us but hopefully it benefited the charities including Sunshine Acres. It was an experience!
On a free day Al and I went to Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team, for a tour of the stadium.
Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark, is a retractable roof
stadium in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It is the home of Major League
Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks. It opened in 1998, the year the
Diamondbacks debuted as an expansion team.
It's amazing how much more you can see when there aren't thousands of fans in the way!
There were beautiful mosaics and murals at this stadium.
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| Franchise Awarded March 9, 1995 |
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Silver Slugger Award
David Peralta
2018 |
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| Concourse |
The tour took us to many different vantage points of the stadium. Here from left field.
Left field is also the location of the organist, Bobby Freeman. At least seven MLB teams still have organs played live during games, providing a unique and nostalgic auditory experience for fans.
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| Arizona Diamondbacks organist Bobby Freeman has played with the franchise for its entire history. |
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Photo courtesy of Stadium Journey.
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| A glimpse of the pool in right field. |
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Joe and Joe have special recognition in the left field area.
I remember Joe Garagiola the announcer as a kid watching baseball on TV.
Joseph Henry Garagiola Sr. was an American professional baseball
catcher, later an announcer and television host, popular for his
colorful personality.
Garagiola played nine seasons in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis
Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and New York Giants. He is in the Hall of Fame as an announcer.
Joseph Black (February 8, 1924 – May 17, 2002) was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league and Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Redlegs, and Washington Senators who became the first black pitcher to win a World Series game, in 1952.
Black was a board director of the Baseball Assistance Team and worked for the Arizona Diamondbacks in community relations after they joined the National League in 1998. Black was a regular in the Diamondbacks' dugout during batting practice and in the press box. He also performed much charity work in the Phoenix area.
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Press box
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The Diamondbacks have their own baseball museum at the stadium behind the outfield area.
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Interesting to see how the colors and logos change over time.
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Golden Glove and Cy Young Awards
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Zack Greinke's 2017 Golden Glove Award
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2001 World Series Trophy
Diamondbacks beat the New York Yankees in the series 4-3 in only their fourth season as a MLB team.
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World Series memorabilia (No the Gonzalez is not ours.)
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Silver Slugger awards and autographed baseballs
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Justin Upton, All Star Game
Joe Garagiola, Hall of Fame
Joe Garagiola Jr. 2001 World Series
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Randy Johnson throws the club's first perfect game in a 2-0 win at Atlanta. Throwing 117 pitches, "The Big Unit" ends the game with a 98 mph fastball to strike out Eddie Perez - his 13th punchout of the night.
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Team's 20th anniversary
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Team Leaders
Paul Goldschmidt is in every position player stat except triples!
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Since 2000, the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation has built or refurbished
baseball fields as part of the "Diamonds Back" Youth Field Building
Program. With the support of local partner, APS, and monetary donations
from individual players, this program has allowed children from across
the state to play baseball and softball at quality facilities.
We got a good look at the swimming pool in right field but unfortunately they wouldn't let us go for a swim. This area is rented out for games.
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The tour took us in to the broadcasters booth named after Joe Garagiola.
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Broadcasters view of the field.
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Books on the shelf in the broadcast booth
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Stickers and autographs on the wall of those who have visited the booth.
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There is an Ohtani 17 sticker in the bottom right.
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Tommy Lasorda H.O.F 8-3-97
Joe Torre HOF '14
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Joe Garagiola
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Bud Selig
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Opening Day in 1998 with the roof to the stadium open
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Interview room
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Starting line ups from each home Opening Day Game
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Diamondback All-Star Starters
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2001 World Series Champions
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The tour took us inside the Diamondback's locker room.
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Kole Calhoun's Locker in the center. (Kole was previously an Angels player.) As a senior member on the team he got a little bigger locker area. Since then he was traded to the Texas Rangers.
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Next up was the dugout. In the tunnel area there is a tire bolted to the wall for players to get our their frustrations. Before the tire players were hitting the drinking fountain and anything else they could find to hit with their bat causing all kinds of damage. The tire has been a nice compromise to replacing other items.
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Phones to the Press Box, Replay Booth, and Bullpen
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View from the dugout
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How do you want your hot dog?
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We really enjoyed this ballpark tour. After the tour we walked around downtown Phoenix a little.
Very close to the baseball stadium is the Phoenix Suns basketball stadium, which is now called Footprint Center.
We enjoyed the tour and it was easy to visit since we took the light rail train from Mesa.
Some afternoon I like to walk around the property of Sunshine Acres and see the animals. There are two desert tortoises,
Three peacocks,
Some miniature horses,.
Donkeys
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One is wearing a mask to keep the flies out of its eyes.
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Alpacas,
around 10 horses,
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This one has one blue and one brown eye.
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Volunteers maintain the animals and at night they put the horses out to pasture.
Over the winter we also volunteer for the Scottsdale Elks Steak Night twice a month as food runners. It's a delicious meal and as Scottsdale is our home lodge, we wanted to help out. (The Elks are nationwide (and even world wide) and have property that host RV'ers so we use this benefit often in our travels.)
We had a pizza and bowling party to celebrate Randy and Faith's birthdays.
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Randy and Eve
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Al made us some yummy chicken soup and Red Lobster biscuits.
We were lucky to be at Bill's when a snow storm came through. This was the view when we woke up the next morning.
We HAD to go out and make a snowman. Come to learn this was Bill's first ever snowman building. He didn't have much opportunity growing up in Southern California.
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| Snow makes the trees look so beautiful in winter. |
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After all the snowman building, it was time to come inside for some hot chocolate and cookies.
It was nice spending time with Bill and the added bonus of snow!
At the end of February it was time for the Sunshine Acres barbecue/Open House. This was also the first Farmer's Market so all hands were on deck for the event.
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Area set up showing the aeroponic process with sample pots and bases.
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Dried herbs for sale all grown and dried in the greenhouse.
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Live herbs grown in the greenhouse for sale.
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Look how big these guys got in time to sell at the market.
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Prize wheel
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Cucumbers for sale
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Cathy and Lauren selling lettuces
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Nancy and Kathy
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Tomatoes and herbs for sale
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Al and I were stationed at the greenhouse for the event to talk with guests and explain how the plants are gown in the towers. We had extra towers out on the patio so people could get an up close look at them.
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Al and Patty talking with guests.
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Rylee and Eve, the greenhouse manager
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Another weekend we made a trip to Tucson to visit friends. John and Sandy took us in their jeep up Reddington Rd for a fun ride.
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John & Sandy
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We had a sighting of someone's pet camel on our route.
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We also visited other friends in the area but forgot to take more photos.
One night back in Mesa, a bunch of us RV'ers went to Red, White, & Brew for dinner.
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Jan, Mike, Gracie, Linda, Randy, Nancy, Al, and Dave
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One day in March our friend, Dave, took us out to see the wild horses not too far from Sunshine Acres.
Salt River Wild Horse Management Group's history and mission:
Background: In 2015, when the impound notice for their removal was
posted by the Forest Service, we knew that it would take an
unprecedented public outrage to prevent this disastrous fate. We gave it
our all; we alerted the media, we held many rallies, and we filed an
injunction in federal court. What happened next, was amazing, it was the
unprecedented public outrage we needed, and then some- the people of
Arizona and its politicians gave these iconic wild horses a voice.
Eventually, the Forest Service agreed to rescind the impound notice.
Together, we changed the course of history for the Salt River wild
horses, who now have a legal right to live on the Salt River in Arizona
and are protected under State law. We are now under contract with the
AZDA to manage the horses humanely.
There was a short hike to get to the feeding area. People are expected to give the horses their space and observe from afar.
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3 Musketeers
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Impatient Horses
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My favorite part was seeing the horses play fight with each other. Al got some great photos!
We had a great time! Thanks Dave, for taking us. We loved it!
A project on Randy's list to complete over the winter while we were at Sunshine Acres was to repack the bearings on his triple axle 5th wheel. Al volunteered to assist. Al put on his coveralls that we bought in Wyoming for this messy job.
Once they were finished with Randy's RV the guys repacked the bearings on our trailer.
Another Randy project was to replace the window in their door with a stained glass window. Photos courtesy of Linda.
When we arrived at Sunshine Acres in December we put in for a new fresh water tank on our RV since it was bowing. It took months to get the new parts from Grand Design but we don't blame them for the delay but instead the Mobile Tech who was coordinating the replacement.
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The old fresh water tank showing the bowed underside
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The new and old fresh water tanks side by side.
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Now that fix was completed we could begin to prepare to leave at the end of April.
But before leaving we had a few more things planned. One was a visit to the Maricopa County Fair and happen to be there the day the children from Sunshine Acres show the animals they have reared.
The fair wasn't a big hit for us. Oh well.
We attended an event at the Elks lodge and Al helped out with cooking. I stayed out of the kitchen area!
A surprise to us was that Al was voted Scottsdale Elk of the year!
After the regular baseball season started, we bought some tickets to go see the Diamondbacks play and invited Bill and Kathy to join us. The Diamondbacks had a promotion to buy one game and get another game for free. Cool, two games!
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Al, Bill, Kathy, and Nancy
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We got to experience the stadium on a beautiful day with the roof open.
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One of the RV's that was parked at Sunshine Acres for about a month was a relief pitcher for the Houston Astros, Ian Kennedy. Him and his wife have 7 kids and they were all in the RV while they were waiting for a house to become available.
He came in to pitch as a reliever at the game we attended.
The four of us split a Churro Dog which is a churro rolled in Oreo cookie crumbs in the
middle of a white, iced long john donut as the bun and topped with three scoops of
vanilla yogurt, strawberry topping, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and
more Oreo crumbs. This thing was Soooo sweet!
And that was our time at Sunshine Acres over the winter. It was nice to be stationary for four months but it's time to hit the road and see more of our beautiful country.
Next up is a visit to Tucson and then Yuma before heading north.
