United Way hosts Spark to Serve event for strangers in need

A new tradition began at the Memorial Union on Wednesday when hundreds of ASU freshman gathered at an event organized by United Way to participate in hands-on service projects to aid children and families in need.

Valley of the Sun United Way collaborated with ASU organizations such as Peace Corps, Residence Hall Association, Changemaker Central and Teach for America, as well as ASU’s own student chapter of United Way to assemble a group of freshman to build “School Readiness Bags” and “WeekEND Hunger Backpacks.”

The bags include bilingual activity books, CDs, crayons, scissors and more.

“Some of our children don’t have access to a quality preschool program before they go to kindergarten, so this kit becomes very crucial so those children to have some of those skills before they go to school,” Gerundo said.

The bags were assembled by groups of ASU freshman who were shuffled in and out throughout the day in fast-paced assembly lines.

The backpacks include seven meals worth of food as well as snacks.

Students looking to volunteer can visit vsuw.org and select the volunteer tab to see what opportunities are available to them, as well as visit the Student United Way at ASU page on Facebook to keep track of upcoming events.

Reach the reporter at icastil3@asu.edu or follow @isabella_m_cast on twitter

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