ASU students have been active in bringing entrepreneurship and charity to communities in an effort to combat hunger.
ASU established a student-run group, Changemaker Central, to further charitable causes in 2011.
David Anaya, the group’s coordinator senior, said the group is comprised of about 300 ASU students, and provides charity to their peers. Their work is not self-contained, as they partner with groups outside of ASU, as well.
“We partner with a variety of non-profits,” he said.
The organization's biggest community outreach is the Devils in Disguise event, he said. Students from all of ASU’s campuses simultaneously volunteer at non-profits and government agencies across the valley to serve the community. This year, 2,000 students participated in the event, Anaya said.
In addition to its own charitable outreaches, ASU partners with charities to participate in the community.
ASU has a strong presence in downtown Phoenix, but it is not the only downtown entity to partner with local and national charities. The city of Phoenix established several partnerships with local and national charities to combat hunger.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton visited Nevitt Elementary School in Tempe on Sept. 17 to help combat childhood hunger. His mission does not end there, though.
The event fed 500 grade-school children and was sponsored by national charity Blessings in a Backpack.
Robbie Sherwood, a spokesman for Mayor Stanton, said the city of Phoenix has partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program, which serves free meals to children at approved locations every summer.
“Sometimes they’re at schools, sometimes they’re at libraries,” Sherwood said.
Seven school districts host the events, helping feed 3,000 children per day, he said.
The city is also partnered with St. Mary’s Food Bank’s Kids Cafe program, which sets up at seven of the 17 Phoenix libraries, and operates five days a week, Sherwood said.
Kids Cafe helps 6,000 kids during the summer, according to St. Mary’s director of public relations, Jerry Brown.
Brown said the organization is one of the largest food banks in the world, and the main one in Arizona, stretching from Phoenix to the state’s northern border.
St. Mary’s has partnered with ASU in the past, and has an ongoing relationship with the city of Phoenix.
“Mayor Stanton is a big proponent of fighting hunger,” Brown said.
St. Mary’s does a copious amount of work in Phoenix. They hosted an event at CityScape on Sept. 17, raising funds to provide meals for 300,000 Arizona residents in need. St. Mary's is looking to raise 15,000 pounds of food in Downtown Phoenix’s Zombie Walk on Oct. 24.
With such a strong statewide presence, St. Mary’s work often overlaps with the ASU and city communities. Much of the food bank's work in downtown Phoenix and Tempe crosses paths with ASU events. St. Mary’s actively collects donations at ASU sporting events, according to Brown.
“Our relationship with ASU is very good,” he said.
Reach the reporter at jwbowlin@asu.edu or follow @mrjoshuabowling on Twitter.
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