Before ASU annihilated UA on the football field Friday, hundreds of fans donated food, toys and money to two local charities.
Representatives of Every Kid Counts, a nonprofit children's assistance organization, announced Wednesday that $1,000, two boxes of toys and one box of nonperishable food was donated outside Sun Devil Stadium on Friday.
United Food Bank will receive $500 and the food. Every Kid Counts will receive $500 and distribute the toys to underprivileged children during the holidays, said Every Kid Counts Assistant Director Jeff Goe.
"Approximately 100 children come into our offices the week before Christmas," Goe said. "We give the children toys as gifts, and any that we have left over are donated to the Thomas J. Pappas School and local Boys and Girls Clubs."
The charity drive was co-sponsored by Every Kid Counts, United Food Bank and the Sun Devil Student Athletes. Approximately 15 student athletes were involved in the collection of donations before the game, said Director of Marketing and Sales John Davis.
"Each year the ASU Athletic Department and student-athletes are involved in many community service projects," Davis said. "When we were contacted by Every Kid Counts and United Food Bank, this was too good an opportunity to pass up."
The first 2,000 people who donated received vouchers for two free tickets to Sun Devil Athletics events, including wrestling, gymnastics, softball and basketball, Davis said. Discounted vouchers were distributed for baseball.
Davis said the donations were average, something he attributed to lack of advertising at football games leading up to Friday's game.
"We didn't take advantage of the advertising opportunities at other games this season," Davis said. "If we did, we'd probably be looking at a lot more donations."
The Athletic Department has not sponsored charity drives outside of football games but focuses on events outside basketball games, Davis said.
"The crowd is usually much more manageable outside basketball games," he said. "It's generally much, much smaller."
ASU alumna and football fan Sue Skidmore said she hadn't heard about that drive but would have donated if she had seen an advertisement.
"I feel sort of bad, being that it's getting into the holiday season," Skidmore said. "Had I known about the drive, I would have brought a contribution."
David said organizers plan to advertise an end-of-season charity drive at early and midseason games next year.
Reach the reporter at kelly.vaughn@asu.edu.
