Scarpinato honored for helping kids
Lisa Scarpinato and her Phoenix-based Kitchen on the Street nonprofit organization were honored last month by the Washington Elementary School District with a Lamp of Learning Award, celebrating the exemplary contributions of special members of the WESD family.

Scarpinato is a WESD alumna, a current Valley Leadership Institute member and the CEO of Kitchen on the Street. Her leadership and compassion for the hungry have resulted in weekly food service to more than 275 WESD students, providing weekend meals and snacks to children who would otherwise go without.

In 2006, Scarpinato and her family learned about children who receive breakfast and lunch at school but often go hungry on the weekends. They took action, formed a 501c3 and invited friends to help them prepare backpacks of food at their home as a means of meeting the needs of the children. Kitchen on the Street has grown to serve 1,300 children each weekend through partnerships with 23 schools.

Earlier this year, Scarpinato and her husband, Vince, were honored by the city of Phoenix with one of the inaugural Impact Volunteer Awards, presented to those members of the community who give of their time to help make Phoenix a great city.

For more information, visit www.KitchenOnTheStreet.org.

Henry takes helm at the Heard
James Pepper Henry has been named as the Heard Museum’s director and CEO. Henry comes to the Heard after a successful six-year tenure at the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center in Alaska. There, he oversaw the completion of the museum’s $110 million, 80,000-square-foot expansion, including the debut of the new Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center exhibition hall and the new Imaginarium Discovery Center.

Henry formerly served as an associate director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) where, for nearly 10 years, he managed a wide variety of American Indian community-oriented programs, services, and traveling exhibitions.

He also served as the founding director of the Kanza Museum in Kaw City, Okla.; interim curator of American Indian Art at the Portland Art Museum; gallery director at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center in Portland, Ore.; and gallery director for the Institute of Alaska Native Arts in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Henry is a member of the Kaw Nation of Oklahoma and Muscogee Creek Nation. He is co-founder and president of the Kanza Ilóshka Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the perpetuation of the cultural life-ways and traditions of the Kaw people. Henry also is an active American Indian traditional dancer and is co-founder of the Kaw Nation Traditional Dance Society.

Henry will assume his new duties on Aug. 5.

McKinley joins Tumbleweed
Kenneth McKinley has been hired as the new vice president of Programs for Tumbleweed Center for Youth Development.

McKinley has 12 years of experience providing direct services, program supervision and advocacy for homeless, runaway and at-risk youth in diverse communities throughout Arizona. He previously served as executive director of Open Inn, Inc.

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