Sunnyside High School alumna and Raytheon employee Chelsie Morales, right, in a calculus class at Pima Community College's Desert Vista campus, is attending PCC this semester thanks to Raytheon, which is paying for her books and tuition.

benjie sanders / arizona daily star

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A $20,000 private donation from local business owners gave a Sunnyside scholarship group a jump-start in helping more South Side high-school graduates reach college.

The money, which will be awarded to students this spring, came from a couple who have contributed repeatedly to the school district for several years.

They join a growing number of donors who have supported the Sunnyside Unified School District Alumni Foundation since it was founded four years ago. The foundation is a member of Dollars for Scholars, a nationwide program that supports local chapters in their effort to raise scholarship money.

All of the 40 Sunnyside applicants from last spring received their share of the almost $60,000 in donations, said Ignacio Ruiz, president of the foundation and assistant principal at Sierra Middle School.

The goal for May is to reach $70,000.

"Every year we're setting the bar a little bit higher," he said.

The $20,000 came from Jim and Bonnie Garrett, owners of a Tucson McDonald's franchise at540 W. Valencia Road, who are well-known faces at the Sunnyside district offices. They have supported students with money and food incentives since the early '90s.

"We think of them as part of the family," said Monique Soria, district spokeswoman and contact person for the Garretts. "They really care about the students. They believe in education and the potential of the students."

Their financial support this year will benefit students like Chelsie Morales, who succeed academically but wouldn't have been able to attend college without scholarships.

Though cash doesn't flow plenty in her family, the 18-year-old Sunnyside High School graduate will not pay off student loans for the rest of her life.

She doesn't wince at pricey books and doesn't lose sleep over steep tuition hikes.

With her 4.1 grade-point average at this year's graduation, Morales cut a promising deal.

Raytheon Missile Systems pays for tuition and books for the electrical engineering freshman at Pima Community College.

She completed a summer internship with the company and has continued working part time during this semester, finishing her computer-programming project. Raytheon officials might even offer her a full-time job after graduation, Morales said proudly.

While Raytheon is a major sponsor, donations at Sunnyside also come from from employees, local businesses and private donors.

Some of them donate several hundred dollars, others give several thousand. Some have enough to contribute every year, others give only once.

This is the Garretts' first donation to Sunnyside graduates, but the list of their involvement at the school district is long.

Bonnie Garrett is a co-founder of the Sunnyside Foundation, which awards mini-grants for school projects, such as field trips for athletic teams or music classes.

During the years, the Garretts have contributed $25,000 to the organization.

When they opened their first Tucson business in 1991, Bonnie went to the administrative offices for Tucson Unified and Sunnyside Unified school districts and asked what she could do to help the students succeed.

"I marched in there and said, 'Howdy, what do you need?' " Bonnie Garrett recalled about her first contact with the schools.

Since then, the Garretts have donated thousands of meals, decorated school events for hundreds of people and given away coupons as incentives for students to learn. Bonnie Garrett has also decorated her business's walls with student art.

One of the most successful projects is McTeachers Night, where students, parents and school employees sell food at a McDonald's store for two hours and keep 15 percent of the sales, she said.

"If they had a request, we filled it," she said about her work with the schools. "If the community supports the school, the future of the community is guaranteed."

Before moving to Tucson, the Garretts owned several McDonald's stores in Kansas and Bonnie Garrett said they have always shared their profits.

In the 43 years they have been in the fast-food business, several million dollars have flowed into Ronald McDonald Houses, colleges, schools and other charitable projects, she said.

"It's realizing what's out there and doing it."

South Side