TEMPE, Ariz. -- Prior to the Lumberjack Team Challenge on Jan. 16, the Arizona State track and field athletes kicked off their 2016 indoor season with volunteer service, organizing almost 30,000 pounds of donated food at the United Food Bank in Mesa, Ariz. on Saturday, Jan. 9.
This marks the second year the program has volunteered with the Feeding America organization. Last year 140 pallets of food were sorted through in just four hours.
For this round, a large semi-trailer tractor full of donated goods needed to be organized, repacked and reloaded for distribution. The student-athletes met that challenge, cleaning out the trailer in the four-hour volunteer period, providing 24,478 meals totaling up to 29,374 pounds of food. From this service alone, an individual is provided with 285 meals.
The team even had a half hour to spare to lend an extra hand cleaning out the warehouse.
“It was mindboggling when they stated the impact that that morning’s work would have on our state,” head coach Greg Kraft said. “Our student-athletes get the bigger picture that we’re Arizona State University. So when they go there, they really enjoy the process but they also put a lot of work in.”
Since the United Food Bank first opened its doors in 1983, meals have been donated to struggling Arizonans in need with 51,000 meals being provided for each day and 22 million pounds being distributed each year.
Not only does the volunteer service make an impact in the Valley, Kraft says that it also brings the over 90 student-athlete squad together by giving them a sense of ownership to the community.
“When they work together like that, they see the opportunity they have to make a difference in our society,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what tack you take in life or what your major is. We really just need to be mindful on just how blessed we are to be healthy, to compete at a very high level and have the compassion for people who are struggling and have less.”