'Fill the Flash' event to benefit Arizona's hungry
<p>ASU4Food invites students, faculty, staff and the public to help combat hunger in our community and have some fun in the process by helping to fill a Flash bus with food on April 7.</p><separator></separator><p>Members of the community can participate in the Fill the Flash event by dropping off non-perishable food items to the Flash bus location at the northeast corner of the Memorial Union on the Tempe campus anytime from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 7. <strong></strong></p><separator></separator><p>The event was organized by ASU4Food, an organization of students dedicated to combating hunger in Arizona.</p><separator></separator><p>“The right to a meal is a basic human right. Everyone needs to eat,” said Sam Lipman, ASU4Food vice president. “Arizona holds the second highest poverty rate in the nation, translating to about 1 in 4 children, 1 in 7 adults, and 1 in 12 seniors going to bed hungry each night.”</p><separator></separator><p>This event is a “territorial food fight” in competition with the University of Arizona’s Stuff the Cat Tran event on April 6.</p><separator></separator><p>“We hope to trounce the Wildcats,” Lipman said. “The Territorial Food Fight is a competition between ASU and UA to raise more support for local food banks, but in the end everybody wins.”</p><separator></separator><p>Students and employees at the Downtown Phoenix, Polytechnic and West campuses can participate by filling Zipcars parked at each campus with non-perishable food between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. on April 7. Zipcars will be parked at the Downtown Phoenix campus on Taylor Mall, in Lot 6 at the Polytechnic campus, and in Lot 6 at the West campus.</p><separator></separator><p>Food donations from ASU’s Fill the Flash event will benefit St. Mary’s Food Bank that has seen an increased need for food since the recession. During the 2010-11 academic year, ASU4Food has collected 8,100 pounds of food, provided for 37,500 meals and raised $4,700 to benefit the hungry in our community through events such as Pi(e) Day, video game tournaments, Valentine’s Day candy grams and the Body Pride Fair.</p>