Community Service Projects Coincide with Fiesta Bowl

Community service at The Ohio State University is extending beyond state borders and into the Phoenix, Ariz., area while visitors from the universities whose teams are playing in this year’s Fiesta Bowl are in town. This marks the fifth consecutive year that Ohio State has organized service projects to correspond with a bowl game.

This year, members of the Ohio State and Kansas State University communities will help prepare and serve food to between 800 and 1,000 homeless people. President Karen Holbrook, OSU Board of Trustees Chairman Zuheir Sofia and eight members of the Buckeye football team are among those taking part in the initiative.

The group from Ohio State will arrive at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 31, at the St. Vincent de Paul Memorial Dining Room, 119 S. 9th Ave., Phoenix. Food will be served from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. President Holbrook will be available to speak with media at 10 a.m.

Other members of Ohio State are volunteering at St. Mary’s Food Bank, 2831 N. 31st Ave., Phoenix. Volunteers will be there from 10 a.m. to noon working to assemble emergency food kits for local families in need of assistance. In past years, more than 600 people from Ohio State have volunteered in communities hosting bowl games.

WHAT:Members of the Ohio State community are volunteering in the Phoenix area before the Fiesta Bowl.

WHEN:10 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 31
Holbrook’s availability: 10 a.m.
Serving begins: 11 a.m.

WHERE:St. Vincent de Paul Memorial Dining Room
119 S. 9th Ave., in Phoenix, Ariz.

WHY:Serving the community hosting Ohio State’s bowl games is a university tradition.