July 10, 2106  Grant awards from the Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation and the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust will permit Tumbleweed Center for Youth Development to continue a mobile service reaching  homeless youth around the Valley as well as relocate and improve a critical donation center.

Tumbleweed has agreements with six Valley cities and towns to provide the mobile service, a van and trailer combination. The 16-foot trailer features showers, laundry facilities, restrooms and water/ wastewater holding tanks. The van carries backpacks with non-perishable food, water bottles and hygiene supplies.  Tumbleweed case managers accompany the vehicles, introducing youth to the range of Tumbleweed services.

“We are grateful to the Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation for recognizing the need and making it possible for us to begin to address it.  It makes a real difference,” said Tumbleweed CEO Cynthia Schuler. “Homeless youth are not always separated from their families, so we work closely with the school districts as they educate enrolled homeless students,” she added. “The numbers in the districts range from 160 to over 1,000 so we know the service is needed.” Tumbleweed has agreements with Mesa, Chandler, Surprise, Peoria, Glendale and the Town of Guadalupe.

“The support of the Pulliam Trust allows us to offer new opportunities for our youth,” Schuler added. The funds will be used to relocate Tumbleweed’s Donation Center from a small converted house in a north Phoenix residential area to a larger commercial storefront near 7th Street and Osborn, close to the Tumbleweed administrative offices.

“The new site will make it much easier for donors to drop off much needed clothing and supplies, and it will be easier for our youth to get there, since it is on a major bus line and closer to our residential services and resource centers,” said Schuler.  “It is a more practical location for the public and our youth, and our young people will definitely feel a difference when they can”go shopping” for the things they need in a retail-like setting. It helps them feel more positive and included.”

Schuler says arrangements to relocate the Donation Center are almost complete and move in will take place in coming weeks.