'Fill the Flash' event to benefit Arizona's hungry

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.

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.

The event was organized by ASU4Food, an organization of students dedicated to combating hunger in Arizona.

“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.”

This event is a “territorial food fight” in competition with the University of Arizona’s Stuff the Cat Tran event on April 6.

“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.”

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.

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.