Last week, I wrote that I decided to mainly write about historical events and issues that occurred in our community.

That issue had not been out long when Brent had a query on Facebook from Amy Arnold. She was curious about some small plaques that are located along the sidewalk on a section of Fayette Drive, west of Fountain Hills Boulevard.

Mayor Ginny Dickey suggested Amy ask Brent if he knew anything about them.

Brent called me and asked if I knew anything about some plaques along the sidewalk near McDowell Mountain School.

“That rings a bell,” I said.

I told him to look through our morgue for a copy of the story. Upon finding it, he called me at my Nevada home. “I’ve got it and l’ll email it to you,” he said, The story ran on Page 1A of the Nov. 10, 1988, issue. The fundraiser was called the “Sidewalk Safety Campaign.” The campaign’s purpose was to raise funds to build a sidewalk on the approaches to the kindergarten through fourth grade education facility.

The need for the sidewalk was demonstrated when several students were involved in a near-miss situation with a vehicle passing another that had slowed down. The children were walking in the street. Fortunately, the driver of the vehicle passing the other one was able to stop in time without hitting them. Several other incidents involving children walking in the street were also reported. These reports prompted one school board member, Dave Gray, to chair a campaign to raise money for a sidewalk so that children would not have to walk through vacant lots and people’s yards in order to walk to school.

A decision was made by the Road Districts not to include sidewalks along roadways as a cost saving measure. The community’s original master developer, McCulloch Properties, also did not require contractors to install sidewalks in front of homes they built.

Gray, a local contractor and building designer operating under the name of La Costa Construction, is still building homes in the community. He designed the sidewalk project at no cost to the School District. Donations were collected in $48 and $135 blocks which covered the costs of each five-foot by five-foot section and larger sections on street corners. Donors also received a brass plaque inscribed with their names in a section of sidewalk they purchased.

MCO Properties donated $14,000 to help the committee achieve its goal and get started.

The Village Pub bought four intersection blocks at $135 apiece.

The Lions Club dropped off a check for $613, which bought 10 blocks and a corner section. The Desert Pride Lioness Club donated two blocks and one corner section and Wright Chiropractic bought three sections.

Cub Scout Packs 243 and 343 bought three blocks with $150 they raised in one day from a car wash. There were also a number of donations by residents.

Companies assisting with the construction at cost included Fountain Hills Construction Company, Wolf Brothers Construction and R&R Trucking.

It’s fundraisers like this one that brought the community together. And The Times publicized these activities to help them succeed.