A dozen Peoria Unified schools participated in Love Our Schools Day with community partners, parents, students and staff.

Love Our Schools Day, in partnership with local nonprofit School Connect, is a project-based volunteer event that brings the community together to invest time and resources and show their neighborhood school a little love.

Volunteers came from across the Valley to support Peoria Unified campuses, such as Apache Elementary, Desert Valley Elementary and Peoria High School. Tasks completed include beautification projects, such as planting bushes and flowers, updating landscaping, pulling weeds, wiping down tables and chairs, painting bulletin boards, writing thank you notes and more.

Sky View and Desert Valley Elementary Schools asked their volunteers to write thank you notes for staff in addition to their clean-up efforts.

“We had a total of 47 adults and 28 students in attendance to help clean up our school. In addition, the members of the City of Glendale Police Department and SWAT Team were in attendance,” Marshall Ranch Assistant Principal Sammy Chagolla shared in a press release. “We are also thankful for our community partners Haven Church and Young Life who volunteered their time to help.”

Additional Peoria Unified schools will host their own version of Love Our Schools Day in the weeks ahead.

Peoria Unified has participated in this tradition for more than five years, demonstrating how beneficial it is to have a strong connection to those in the community.

“We had National Junior Honors Society and Student Council members along with parents, staff and community members participate in our Love Our Schools Day event,” Tammy Maas, Sky View Elementary School principal, stated. “Our volunteers came out to wash windows, clean desks, sweep, rake, and pick up trash-all to keep Sky View looking beautiful.”

Community partners, parents, students and staff came together to clean Peoria Unified School District campuses.

(Photo provided by PUSD)