Monique Van Sickle, a volunteer marketing and communications board member, tends to one of the registers at the group's thrift store. On Thursday May 1, 2025 the organization will change its name from the Assistance League of Tucson to Viva Pima!
The Assistance League of Tucson operates a thrift store on Alvernon Way north of Speedway Boulevard that helps to fund various programs such as uniforms for students, kits for victims of assault, and books for schools with large populations of low-income residents.
This group in southern Arizona has been providing these and other services for decades under the auspices of the national Assistance League, but on May 1st the local chapter is becoming an independent organization.
It will be called Viva Pima! with programs such as Viva Pima Kids and Viva Pima Thrift.
"We have been established here in Tucson since 1959. We have been with the assistance league, the national assistance league for 65 years, and we have decided that it's time to update," says Monique Van Sickle, the marketing and communications board member.
"We're excited to have the opportunity to rebrand with an image that now reflects the spirit, the vitality and the resilience of the Pima County and the Tucson community."
Under the new setup, Viva Pima will no longer pay membership dues to the national organization.
"We pride ourselves that all the monies that we bring in through our online shop, our thrift store, our generous grantors and donors stay in the Tucson community."
A public reopening celebration is planned for May 1st at the Viva Pima thrift store.
Van Sickle says Viva Pima has four paid employees with a vital team of more than 300 active volunteers under an annual operating budget of about 1.4 million dollars.
VIEW LARGER On Thursday May 1, 2025 the Assistance League of Tucson will change its name from to Viva Pima!
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