FEED, which stands for Fostering Empathy, Enabling Dignity, is a club based on the Downtown Phoenix campus with a mission to serve the homeless population by providing free meals and educating students about the stigma and stereotypes surrounding homelessness.
"We gather at ASU downtown campus, at the post office, and we get together, split into groups, and hand out food," Josh Cooper, FEED founder and a junior studying sports journalism, said.
When Cooper transferred to ASU, he saw a lack of clubs that volunteer specifically with the homeless population and created FEED to fill that gap.
The club meets every Wednesday and Saturday. Wednesdays are used to plan out routes and food, and then they hand it out on Saturdays.
The club plans about three to four routes for the Saturday services.
"It's just really a lot of trial and error," Cooper said. "That's the biggest thing. It's really hard. Homeless (people) move around a lot. It's rare to find a consistent spot."
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Typically, the club will hand out pizza because it's a low-cost item, but sometimes club members will make their own food, like pasta.
The club hopes to give out premade and prepackaged meals in the near future.
When it comes to finances, the club isn't able to get money directly from ASU to invest in the meals they hand out. Cooper said any food or money that comes from the University must be used on ASU students.
"We can only get food from them or money from them to give things to ASU students, not to give back to our community," Cooper said. "So we fundraise all the efforts ourselves."
Brielle Sanders, a club member and a sophomore studying dietetics, made over 50 boxes of pasta for the last food distribution.
The club works to confront and dispel misconceptions students may hold about people who are homeless, such as that they are dangerous or that it's their fault they are homeless.
"You just have to realize that they're probably scared themselves," Sanders said. "You've got to think about what they're going through … they're on the street by themselves in a dangerous situation."
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Maya Wedner, a club member and freshman studying nursing, has volunteered in the past and wanted to continue to do so in college.
"It just means a lot," Wedner said. "It's very fulfilling to know that I'm helping those in need and that I'm giving back to the community."
Edited by Natalia Rodriguez, Jack McCarthy, Emilio Alvarado, Sophia Braccio and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at galawre3@asu.edu.
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Grace Lawrence is the lead reporter for the community and culture desk at The State Press. This is her 2nd semester working with The State Press.
