15 Yuma children get back-to-school shopping spree at JCPenney
Fifteen Yuma children each got $250 to spend at JCPenney in Yuma Palms, a direct boost as school-start costs pile up for families.
Fifteen Yuma children each had $250 to spend on back-to-school clothes and supplies at JCPenney in Yuma Palms, turning one morning of shopping into a targeted answer to a familiar family expense. The outing, organized by the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley’s Yuma branch with help from community volunteers, covered more than backpacks and pencils by putting shoes, clothes and other basics within reach.
The shopping took place at JCPenney, 1375 S. Yuma Palms Parkway, where select club members were paired with volunteer shoppers to work through their back-to-school lists. The clubs’ valleywide process includes matching members with shoppers, sharing lists with sizes and preferences at the start of the event, and requiring every volunteer to be at least 18 and complete a free background check before shopping solo with a club member.
The Yuma branch said the 15 students were chosen for financial need and outstanding behavior. Branch Director Rowena Regalado has framed the event as a way to recognize members who support their peers and show leadership, and this year’s outing had backing from Metro by T-Mobile, Dutch Bros and Raising Cane’s. Similar Yuma shopping events have become part of the local summer calendar, with the Boys & Girls Club of Yuma, Arizona describing a comparable 2025 event for 15 club members and KYMA covering similar club shopping efforts in 2024 and 2025.
The shopping spree landed alongside a larger push to blunt school-start costs across Yuma. The City of Yuma’s 15th Annual Back to School Rodeo was set for July 11 at the Yuma Civic Center, where the city said the first 2,000 K-8 students would receive free backpacks with school supplies, 25 nonprofit organizations would be tabling and the Yuma County Health Department and Yuma Police Department would offer free vaccines and child fingerprinting.
The scale of that demand fits Yuma County’s size. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the county’s population at 224,449 on July 1, 2025, and about 24.0% of residents were under 18. In a county that young, even a $250 shopping trip for 15 children is less a symbol than a stopgap, one that only begins to meet the cost of getting ready for class.
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