More than 600 families and 1,200 children received boxes of Thanksgiving food Saturday after 30 ASU students volunteered at the Phoenix Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen.
The volunteers spent most of their time with children at various activity stations at the Office of Student Engagement’s final event to promote National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, which ended Saturday.
James Randall, management intern from the Office of Student Engagement, said ASU volunteers were supposed to provide alternate activities for the children coming through with their families. The Phoenix Rescue Mission normally helps feed the homeless and give them shelter.
“We really wanted to heighten the spirit of the holiday season,” Randall said. “We also want the community to know we’re still here, we do care. We want to give thanks by giving back.”
Nicole Peña, Phoenix Rescue Mission’s director of outreach programs, said all families that came through Saturday were offered free lunch as well as community-donated boxes filled with Thanksgiving food
Peña said this year has been an especially busy one at Phoenix Rescue Mission.
“We’re doing triple the business that we normally do since the economy has been so bad,” she said, adding that she was pleased with the turnout of ASU students.
“I think it’s wonderful they are here,” she said. “They are so enthusiastic and they really interact with the kids and their families. It’s great for the community to see how much they care.”
More than 4,000 books were also donated for children to take home, Peña said.
The books were given out not only for the children to have something to take home with them, but because most of them don’t have a library they can use.
“It’s especially nice to see ASU students helping the kids pick out books,” she said. “It shows the kids how to break the cycle of poverty, to remind them of what opportunities college will provide them in a few years.”
Nursing freshman Paloma Delgado, a President Barack Obama scholar, said she volunteered to fill her hours and because she loves volunteering.
Paloma spent most of her time at the origami table.
“I had to learn to make origami too, but mine were really terrible,” she said. “But it was worth it to help the kids. Just seeing them smile was a highlight.”
Peña said she felt the students did a lot of great work on Saturday.
“Students get a bad rap — a lot of people think they are selfish and don’t care about what happens outside themselves,” she said. “But they come out in huge numbers to help those in the community, which shows how much they really care.”
Reach the reporter at sheydt@asu.edu.
