La Hacienda is an RV resort on 28th Avenue in Apache Junction. We are right across the street from Apache Junction High School on Ironwood Drive.

Every February we hold a pie auction to benefit Sunshine Acres Children’s Home. We started doing this in 1991. The most recent was Friday, Feb. 4.

The residents make or purchase the pies and donate them to be auctioned. The choir of children from the home comes out to sing for us and they take turns delivering the pies to the winning bidders. Some of the bidders will give their pie to the children so they share when the bidding is completed.

There were about 100 residents at the auction Feb. 4. There was a lot of action and fun throughout the evening. When it came to a close we had almost $16,000 to donate to the home.

The auction was coordinated by a wonderful group of volunteers including Harley and Anet Marsh, Tom and Sue Marsh as well as numerous other workers on the floor monitoring the bidding, collecting the money and serving ice cream when the auction was completed.

Our auctioneers were Mel Toews and Harley Marsh who provided lots of laughs while doing their jobs. The kids’ choir sang four songs for us and enjoyed their turns at delivering the pies that were passed to them by Joe Wilson.

Other events for Sunshine Acres

Park residents also provide Thanksgiving dinner for all seven of the houses at Sunshine Acres. There are 10 children in each house plus the houseparents.

They sign up to provide everything for the dinners from pickles to pies. The Monday before Thanksgiving everything is brought to the hall and sorted into seven portions, which takes numerous boxes. They are all then loaded into trucks and delivered to the homes. There are usually two pickups required to get it all out there.

In March we have a raffle of handcrafted or purchased gifts that we sell tickets on and we always make between $2,000 and $3,000 on that.

Since 1992 residents of this resort have contributed an astounding amount of just over $275,000 to Sunshine Acres. Yes, you really did read that correctly. And that amount does not include the value of the Thanksgiving dinners.

Other charitable donations

In addition to the children’s home we also make donations to Apache Junction Unified School District’s Project Help and the Superstition Fire and Medical District paramedics who are so often called to emergencies in the park.

I am so proud to live in a community of such wonderful people who are so willing to share their time, efforts and monetary contributions to make the world a better place. The La Hacienda motto has always been “Quite Simply ... the Best” and it is.

La Hacienda RV Resort

There are just 280 sites in our park and it is completely full right now with a waiting list of numerous people who want to come in. There are about 500 residents. Although we are small compared to many other resorts in the area, we have all the amenities of the larger ones, plus a few added attractions.

Many activities are enjoyed by the residents of each street — such as happy hour and team sports — making the people become better acquainted. Our manager, Joyce Tinseth, has been here since the park opened in the fall of 1985. I believe we are the only park in town that has had the same owner and manager for 36 years. We have so many activities and the residents are so willing to participate and volunteer their time to make every event a success.

Editor’s note: Denise Dyer Bradshaw is a resident of La Hacienda RV Resort in Apache Junction.