O’Connor House Receives Major Gift from US Airways Community Foundation Grant Helps In Renovation of Original Adobe Home of John and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

PHOENIX, July 2 /PRNewswire/ -- John Graham and Wick Pilcher, Co-Chairs of the Rio Salado Foundation’s Capital Campaign Committee for the O’Connor House Project, announced today that the O’Connor House Project has been awarded a $40,000 grant from US Airways Community Foundation. The grant is for completing the renovation of the original adobe home of Justice Sandra Day and John O’Connor. The home has been relocated in Tempe’s Papago Park, adjacent to the Arizona Historical Society Museum. O’Connor House will open in October 2009 and serve as a center where people with diverse perspectives can come together to a purposeful consensus on key issues that impact the people of Arizona and the nation.

“We are delighted to be part of this important and historic project,� said Julie Coleman, vice president of the US Airways Community Foundation. “The Foundation puts its efforts behind bricks and mortar projects in Phoenix, Philadelphia and Charlotte and we are extremely pleased to join this unique effort to honor Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and benefit Phoenix and the State of Arizona in a meaningful and lasting way.�

O’Connor House was launched in 2008 when the Honorable Barbara Barrett, former Ambassador to Finland, and Gay F. Wray learned that the Paradise Valley home of John and Sandra O’Connor was slated for demolition. The two, who are friends of Justice O’Connor, determined to preserve this piece of Arizona History and enlisted a cadre of supporters.

From the outset, the project involved more than physically moving the adobe house. It was always about preserving the spirit of civic concern, purposeful civility and active consensus that Justice O’Connor personifies. Elected majority leader of the Arizona Senate in 1972, she was the first woman to hold such an office anywhere in the U.S. During the years they lived in the house, Sandra Day O’Connor brought many people home to discuss issues and reach agreement, often crossing party lines. Senate bills were written in the house and dozens of international luminaries were treated to western hospitality there.

The US Airways Community Foundation grant is a significant gift that will help the O’Connor House reach its capital campaign goal. Once the renovation is complete, the House will provide programming that will fulfill its mission to bring people with divergent views together to reach compromise and consensus through a process that reflects Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s lifelong commitment to move people beyond polarizing rhetoric to advance solutions for significant societal issues. Justice O’Connor is personally leading the first two O’Connor House action agenda issues which will focus on domestic violence and ensuring good government for Arizona’s second century.

For information about the capital campaign or to make a contribution to O’Connor House, contact elvacoor@oconnorhouse.org.

Contact: Martha Hunter or Pam Hait, both of Strategies, +1-602-952-0040