Sedona Area Veteran and Community Outreach will be hosting its Christmas celebration dinner at Juniper Bar & Grille at Sedona Golf Resort on Thursday, Dec. 12, at 6 p.m.
During the event, the proceeds from SAVCO’s annual golf tournament in September will be distributed to several nonprofits.
The Hope House of Sedona will receive $2,000, Project Fill the Need in the Village of Oak Creek will receive $2,000, the Scorpion Booster Club will receive $1,000, Verde Valley Sanctuary will receive $1,500, Red Rock Trail Fund will receive $500 and Wheel Fun will receive $1,000.
During the dinner John Martinez, a former Sedona vice mayor, will be joining the board as its new vice president.
“I do this in honor of my dad, because he was in the Navy during World War II,” Martinez said. “I was fortunate to bring the traveling Vietnam Wall to Sedona and the Verde Valley twice, so I support the military in any capacity that I can.”
Martinez will be replacing co-vice Presidents Mark Cary and Sam Skaggs. Cary is a retired U.S. Marine who has stayed busy delivering aid to Ukraine numerous times in recent years while Skaggs is a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel.
“I was surprised that they even considered me, considering I do not have a military background, but they know that I support them dearly,” Martinez said.
“What’s really exciting about this is we always billed SAVCO as an organization that is not just for veterans,” SAVCO President Jack Ross said. “It’s for civilians, too, that think like us and want to help the community and do patriotic kind of chores. So Martinez is the first one to hold one of these offices that is not military background. So we’re excited that’s coming to fruition.”
Martinez said growing the organization’s membership would be among his chief priorities.
“If you in any way believe that the military and also first responders, are important members of the community, that’s where you should join so you could support them,” Martinez said.
Some of the “patriotic kind of chores” that SAVCO does are installing and removing American flags along State Route 89A during major holidays, hosting a Memorial Day Ceremony, providing direct aid to veterans and running Sedona Toys for Tots.
Toys for Tots requires its branches to have a local sponsor with a military affiliation; that role is filled by SAVCO. “We couldn’t do any of this without SAVCO,” local coordinator Angela Thomas said, and added that Toys for Tots requests, donations and volunteer opportunities are available online at sedonaaz.toysfortots.org. To RSVP for the SAVCO dinner, contact Michelle Cary at ml_cary@yahoo.com or (760) 532-6032.
