Colbe Armstrong, left, and Miguelito Araiza, both 3, soon will enjoy an expanded menu at Primavera Preschool. Primavera recently received a donation and matching grant to help renovate its kitchen.

James Gregg / arizona daily star

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They are two of Tucson's poorest child-care centers, with kids who show up hungry each morning and teachers without cars who take buses to work.

But Primavera Preschool and Tucson Nursery School are now able to do more for their kids and teachers, thanks to donations from local businesses.

With a $5,000 donation from Oro Valley businessman Jerry Cacciatore and his family, and a $5,000 matching grant from the Diamond Foundation, Primavera Preschool soon will have a fully equipped kitchen where nutritious meals can be prepared each day.

And with Tucson Electric Power and Pima Community College covering their tuition, 10 Tucson Nursery School employees are taking classes to get certificates in early-childhood education. Pima agreed to send instructors to the nursery school so employees don't have to commute to class.

"It's wonderful," said Gloria Valenzuela, a teacher at Tucson Nursery School, 2385 S. Plumer Ave. She also is the mother of triplet daughters who leave her with little spare time after work. "We can learn while we are working. I definitely feel I'm a better teacher than I was when we started this last year."

Megan Motzkin has four boys who attend Primavera Preschool, 525 N. Grande Ave. The 11-year-old twins go after school, and she drops off her 5- and 3-year-olds on her way to work. Motzkin can afford to feed her kids, she said, but she is grateful the preschool provides breakfast and lunch.

"For me, it's a great convenience," she said. "But most of the kids there don't get enough to eat at home. They come from families that don't have basically anything."

Primavera does a great job fixing burritos and other foods that don't require all the equipment required by state and county licensing officials, Motzkin said. In fact, Primavera has been cited for preparing meals without a licensed kitchen, said director Lilliana Novak.

"But I can't let these children go hungry," Novak said, and health inspectors know she is renovating her kitchen to meet all equipment standards.

The schools are two examples of what can happen when businesses recognize that today's children are tomorrow's work force, experts said last week at a breakfast meeting where companies were encouraged to invest in early-childhood programs.

"You in business have a particular opportunity to make a difference," David Lawrence, retired publisher of The Miami Herald, told about 150 business and early-learning leaders.

Lawrence, since 1999 the president of Florida's Early Childhood Initiative Foundation, cited studies that show for every $1 spent on early childhood programs, up to $17 can be saved in the long run. The savings come mostly from spending less on criminal justice and remediation programs, Lawrence said.

But the economy also benefits when children who do well in school earn more and pay more taxes once they enter the work force, the studies have shown.

Lawrence pointed to three opportunities for businesses, foundations and individuals who want to make a difference in the lives of Tucson children. Available through United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, which hosted Thursday's meeting with the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, they are:

● A five year, $1 million challenge grant from Tucson's Diamond Foundation to United Way's First Focus on Kids program. The foundation will match any contribution of $5,000 or more, up to $200,000 a year, until July 2011.

Since last July, donations from businesses, foundations and individuals have reached $119,000, said Helaine Levy, the Diamond Foundation's executive director.

● First Focus on Kids' Adopt-A-Center program, which pairs 14 preschools and child-care centers with donations to fill a variety of needs, including cash, computers, college scholarships, playground equipment, books, arts and crafts supplies, landscaping and volunteers.

● Born Learning, a parent-education program readily adapted to workplaces. Employers can link their Web sites to bornlearning.org, a source of advice and information for workers with kids.

"It was like a Christmas present," Novak said, when Jerry and Amy Cacciatore, and their adult children, Joey and Marie, came to visit her preschool in December.

The Cacciatores asked United Way where they could make a donation to help the community. Lavonne Douville, United Way's First Focus on Kids director, told them about the Diamond matching grant. They liked the idea, so she suggested they visit Primavera and two other preschools, then make a choice.

"We walked in (to Primavera) and we almost started crying," Jerry Cacciatore said at Thursday's breakfast meeting. "The kids were obviously so poor but they were being treated so well, and you could tell the center really needed help."

Cacciatore said his kids, both in college, may benefit as much as the Primavera children. "They love this, are you kidding? I know we will do this again."

TEP has been helping out at Tucson Nursery School for about 10 years, said Sharon Foltz, community-relations director. The tuition waivers are the result of a land gift from TEP to the college, in exchange for which Pima has provided tuition waivers for members of about 150 non-profit groups identified by TEP, Foltz said.

The training will help Tucson Nursery School in its effort to win national accreditation — a hard-to-get seal of approval that will boost the state's tuition subsidies by up to 10 percent, thus helping the school's programs overall.

Primavera Preschool also will benefit financially. The 2-year-old school never has charged parents for the meals it serves its children, 80 percent of whom qualify for Department of Economic Security subsidies, Novak said. But with a licensed kitchen, the school can get money from the Department of Education to help cover the cost of those meals.

Both Novak and Sherry Bolinger, director of Tucson Nursery School, still have long wish lists for materials and equipment — things they hope people will donate, from art supplies to a new air conditioner.

"What TEP and Pima College are doing for us is a huge help," Bolinger said. "People might wonder, why don't we just raise our rates? But we cannot raise our rates because if we did, our families just wouldn't be able to come here anymore."