In 2007, Army ROTC Cadet Michael Volkert and his wife spent three days — including Christmas Day — at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Their 6-month-old daughter began having seizures.
The history senior’s daughter is now a healthy 4-year-old, but he still remembers that Christmas.
“I think everyone can relate,” Volkert said. “We have all been kids and have all known sick kids and we’re doing anything we can to help them out.”
His daughter and the other children he met at the hospital that December became the inspiration for the Army ROTC’s end-of-the-semester service project.
Army and Navy ROTC cadets gathered at the Tempe campus in front of the Student Recreation Center and on Hayden Lawn Monday afternoon. They collected toys and monetary donations with plans to donate the proceeds to Phoenix Children’s Hospital on Tuesday.
ROTC members at both locations collected $625 and 95 toys, business undergraduate and Army ROTC cadet Stanton Sims said in an email following the collections.
“Collecting toys didn’t go as well as we hoped, but we got a big chunk of change,” materials engineering senior and Army ROTC cadet Nathan Curtis said.
History senior and Army ROTC 1st Lt. Kathryn Zurmehly said the project might have gone better if they had had more publicity beforehand.
Army ROTC members put up posters around campus and created a Facebook page for the event, Zurmehly said.
“We’ve brought in a fair amount, but not a huge haul,” Zurmehly said on Hayden Lawn near the event’s end.
ROTC members are already planning to hold a similar service project next year.
“We hope to do this year after year as a project,” Volkert said.
He said they would try to extend the project beyond campus next year. The only collection sites were the SRC, Hayden Lawn and Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. GCU’s ROTC is the sister organization of ASU’s ROTC, Curtis said.
Volkert said volunteers discussed setting up booths at local stores for next year’s project.
Each semester, ROTC puts together a community service project. Zurmehly said she has participated in other food or toy drives, but this was the first toy drive on campus.
Special education freshman Eve Victor donated a dollar when she walked by the collection tent on Hayden Lawn.
“Obviously it’s a good cause,” Victor said. “My friend’s in the Marines, too, so even though it’s not the same, I try to support anything the military does,” Victor said.
Reach the reporter at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
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