Fiesta Sports Foundation marks 10 years of Wishes for Teachers

This is the 10th anniversary of the Fiesta Sports Foundation’s Wishes for Teachers. It is Arizona’s largest direct support initiative for teachers. It grants classroom wishes to teachers across the state of Arizona. The Fiesta Sports Foundation saw that many teachers spent their own money to enhance their classroom experience and developed a program to aid teachers in that effort.

Applications for the Wishes for Teachers program open on September 2 and close on September 30. Arizona K-12, Public or Charter school employees can apply at wishesforteachers.org

Kristina Chumpol who is the Chief Impact Officer & Chief of Staff at the Fiesta Sports Foundation joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the program.

“Where it started was that we knew that far too often teachers were dipping into their own pockets to support their classrooms,” Chumpol said. “Teachers know their students the best, they know their classroom the best, let’s get them the resources that they need to make impact happen.”

Over the years Wishes for Teachers has gifted teachers with everything from basic classroom needs to updated furniture, alleviating the financial stress from teachers. Just this year the program plans on granting $1.5 million worth of wishes, aiding more than 500 teachers.

“We traditionally see upwards of four to 5,000 applications come in,” Chumpol said. “We want that number to keep growing so that we can keep granting more wishes.”

Moving forward Chumpol hinted at a “Wishes for Schools,” an addition to the Wishes for Teachers program. If a teacher’s wish is granted, the a wish amounts to $2,500; however, each of the three schools being awarded a wish this year will be granted $50,000.

Education is one of the key pillars to the Fiesta Sport Foundation, so expanding their investment efforts to both teachers and schools is a way they will continue stepping into the space.