Flood Recovery Special Needs School

We are St. Dominic Savio Academy; a K-12 nonprofit special needs school, serving the autism community in Tempe, Arizona since 2009. In 2016, we added Next Step to our family, an early intervention program that better serves the needs of pre-school aged children.

 On June 11th, 2017 we discovered a major water leak in the school. 2-3 inches of water had accumulated across the entire building, including 14 rooms used for early intervention treatment, sensory needs, classrooms, and administrative offices. Despite our commitment to providing year-round services, we’ve been forced to close the school for at least a week as we coordinate emergency relocation.

We’ve been blessed to quickly find a new building; however it lacks the essential materials we rely on to provide a high-quality education.

Water damages affected critical teaching materials, classroom furniture, sensory equipment used in therapy, our picture book library, and teacher office supplies. The estimated cost of replacing unsalvageable furniture and materials totals at least $6,500. We rely on family and community members for donations; these unexpected expenses far exceed our operating budget.  

Despite this setback, we remain committed to serving our St. Dominic Savio Academy family. All donations are greatly appreciated and will help us to continue achieving our mission to love and lead our students to happy and fulfilling lives.