ON Semiconductor Supports Annual Holiday Program at Local Elementary School

For more than 10 years, ON Semiconductor has been sponsoring a holiday gift-giving event at Academia del Pueblo Elementary School in Phoenix, Arizona. Academia del Pueblo (AdP) is a Title 1 school catering to a diverse student body from Pre-K to eighth grade. In prior years, employees had personally provided gifts for each student from Pre-K to fifth grade, based on the students’ letters to Santa. Students in grades six through eight had celebrated the holiday season by going bowling, enjoying a pizza lunch and receiving $25 gift cards . Company employees also had provided gift cards to each of the teachers of AdP.

Due to restrictions posed by COVID-19 in 2020, we were disappointed that we could not engage with the school and children as in past years. For many ON Semiconductor employee participants this event is just as much a gift for them as it is for the children. Instead, we worked with school administrators to find a way to continue our holiday traditions that would still benefit the children and kept everyone safe. We supported the children of AdP through an online donation drive with a goal of raising $12,000. Each donation of $25 or more made by our employees was matched dollar-for-dollar by the ON Semiconductor Foundation. This ensured that each of the 400 students of the school was provided a gift during the holidays. The funds were used by AdP to purchase and distribute gifts to their students from Pre-K to eighth grade. 

“On behalf of the entire Academia del Pueblo school community, we want to thank ON Semiconductor for saving Christmas for our students during the single most challenging year all of us have ever faced. We found a way to safely keep the event alive through a curbside, contactless event before Christmas 2020. Please know that the love and generosity of the ON Semiconductor team made a significant impact in the lives of students and helped to keep hope alive,” said Frank Lomeli, principal for Academia del Pueblo School.

The ON Semiconductor Employee Activity Committee, an affinity network group, has been a proud sponsor of AdP for many years.. We were pleased to partner with another affinity network group, STEM UP that focuses on science, technology, engineering and math for underrepresented populations to ensure the annual holiday gift program—although virtual – continued in 2020. The results of our efforts were seen on the faces of the AdP students, families and faculty as well as felt by those ON Semiconductor employees who participated in this event. A happy holiday was provided for all those involved!

We definitely missed going into the classrooms and seeing the happiness Santa brought to the children of Academia del Pueblo. However, we are so grateful for the generosity of our employees and the persistence of school staff who found a safe way to distribute gifts to each of the students and teachers of Academia del Pueblo.

“ON Semiconductor is pleased that we were able to continue our support for Academia del Pueblo despite the many challenges faced by us all during the 2020 holiday season. Helping to make these kids’ wishes come true is a highlight for us every year – it brings a lot of joy to those who give, as well as those who receive,” said Jeff McKibben, vice president of applications programming at ON Semiconductor.

The overwhelming support and generosity of ON Semiconductor employees and the ON Semiconductor Foundation resulted in a total donation of $13,872 to AdP. The company’s information technology (IT) department was especially engaged and helped to raise over half of the funds! 

“The efforts of the IT department around this initiative are always driven by our staff themselves. Our IT staff love participating in this program every year. This year, of course, was a little different. Our leadership set a specific goal, and we communicated daily with our folks about our progress toward that goal. We had a “tracker” on our internal SharePoint site and I tried to use fun avatars in the messages. We tried to still make the event as fun as possible, and our staff loves a challenge,” said Andrea Peterson, executive assistant in the IT department at ON Semiconductor.

Learn more about the various diversity and inclusion initiatives happening at ON Semiconductor today!