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Celebrate the season with '12 Days of Giving'


December 12, 2012

This is the season to be thankful for friends, family and endeavors that benefit the community. As Arizona State University gears up to win the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, Dec. 29, in San Francisco, the university is taking the opportunity to offer suggestions for “12 Days of Giving” in order to make a big difference this season and celebrate the university’s outreach role in the community.

Beginning Dec. 13, Arizona State University will highlight ways to give back during the next 12 days, leading up to Dec. 25 when the Sun Devil football team will be serving food to the needy in the San Francisco Bay Area – in an effort to help fight hunger.

Follow ASU’s “12 Days of Giving” – starting Dec. 13 – on asunews.asu.edu and on Twitter @ASU and @asunews (hash tag is #12daysofgiving).

The “12 Days of Giving” are:

Day 1Distribute leftover food to those who need it. ASU’s FlashFood is a mobile phone application, created by students, to help connect restaurants, hotels, and catering and banquet services with teams of people who collect leftover and excess food and transport it to community centers, churches and other neighborhood locations where it can be distributed to people in need.

Day 2 Help make hunger disappear. ASU4Food is a student organization that works with food banks to spread awareness and eliminate hunger in Arizona. The group does it in innovative ways. For instance, they spell out the word “hunger” in canned goods with one can going away each time someone donates a dollar until it disappears.

Day 3Help our military spend the holidays with their families. ASU student start-up venture AlphaStripe, the social media platform for military members, veterans and civilian supporters to connect and document their experiences, recently launched its "Home for the Holidays" initiative to provide up to four military members a roundtrip airline ticket to go home for the holidays. Service men and women, along with their loved ones, are encouraged to visit AlphaStripe.com and share their best military related stories, along with photos and videos, to have a chance to win one of four round-trip tickets home to reunite with their loved ones for the holidays. The four stories with the most salutes will win the competition. (The submission period ends on Dec. 20.)

Day 4Take a step in solving the world’s challenges. ASU’s G3Box, created by students, provides portable maternity clinics, made out of unused shipping containers, to countries with high maternal mortality rates.

Day 5Develop a product that benefits disabled individuals. BooGüd Bicycles is a socially minded venture developed by ASU students that enables customers to empower disabled individuals in developing countries. BooGüd Bicycles operates on a "buy one, give one" principle – for every bamboo bicycle that is sold, an attachable handcycle is donated to a disabled person in Africa.

Day 6Partner with an incredible kid to help homeless youth. ASU’s Changemaker Central joined forces this fall with Zach Bonner, a 14-year-old boy dedicated to serving homeless youth, on a backpack drive that collected more than 50 backpacks to benefit children without homes. Bonner started his Little Red Wagon nonprofit organization at the age of 8 to help homeless and underprivileged kids.

Day 7Put a smile on the face of a child this Christmas. A group of ASU athletes help make the dreams of deserving children come true when they take them to the North Pole on the United Fantasy Flight.

Day 8 Offer support to a veteran or military service member. ASU’s Pat Tillman Veterans Center is a way to offer support to ASU’s student veteran and active military population. The university greatly appreciates and honors those who have served in defense of our country.

Day 9Connect with your community. Attend an institution that values community service. Arizona State University has 491 community outreach programs in 174 locations, offered by 121 different units, totaling 753 outreach opportunities. ASU has programs in a variety of areas including: education, economy, human rights, quality of life, sustainability, technology and discovery. Find out more, including viewing a map of the Phoenix metropolitan area that illustrates where all of the different resources are located.

Day 10Advocate for equal rights. ASU alumnus Neil Giuliano, an active member in the ASU Alumni Association San Francisco chapter, works to raise the visibility and volume of the national conversation about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights and advance the culture toward full equality, as part of his work with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

Day 11Help improve the health of animals in your area. ASU staffer Natasha Karaczan’s concern for the health of her black Pomeranian dog, Jake, led her down a path to perfecting the ultimate culinary canine treat – a homemade all-natural dog biscuit – which she sells to proud pet owners around ASU. All of the proceeds benefit Valley animal shelters.  

Day 12Enlist your football team to feed the hungry. ASU football players aren’t just focusing on the game in San Francisco when they play in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, Dec. 29. They’ll also be spending part of Christmas day feeding those in need from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (Pacific time) at the Glide Memorial Church and Kitchen, 330 Ellis Street, San Francisco.