Grand Canyon University Athletics
Lopes aid at clothing drive
7/24/2018 9:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball, Women's Soccer, Volleyball, S-A Development
Grand Canyon student-athletes got a jump start on volunteering this year when the Back to School Clothing Drive came to GCU Arena.
Members from men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball and women's basketball team volunteered -- 43 student-athletes in total.
The Back to School Clothing Drive is Arizona's largest provider of school goods, such as uniforms, clothing, backpacks and supplies. The program serves more than 5,000 Title I elementary school students from more than 260 Maricopa County schools. The drive provided an opportunity not only for GCU student-athletes to get involved with the community but the local children as well.
Kaeman Mitchell, GCU's L.O.P.E.S. For Life Coordinator, Academics and Student-Athlete Development, was at the arena and summarized the event.
"Back to School Clothing Drive provides school uniforms, shoes and backpacks filled with school supplies to over 5,000 local kids," Mitchell said. "This is a tremendous opportunity for our student-athletes to get involved with local kids and help them get ready for the upcoming school year."
    
All students, pre-selected and pre-registered by their schools, are bussed to GCU Arena which is transformed into a one-stop-shop for school supplies. From there, they are assigned a personal shopper to help them select the correct supplies. Each child takes home around $350 worth of school supplies coming to an estimated total of $1.8 million by the end of the event. This year, collaborations with other organizations such as Arizona Helping hands, Arizona Friends of Foster Families and Children First Academy has grown the outreach so that more than 25,000 students will receive supplies throughout the school year.
The event runs from July 23-26 from 7:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day inside GCU Arena.
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Members from men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball and women's basketball team volunteered -- 43 student-athletes in total.
The Back to School Clothing Drive is Arizona's largest provider of school goods, such as uniforms, clothing, backpacks and supplies. The program serves more than 5,000 Title I elementary school students from more than 260 Maricopa County schools. The drive provided an opportunity not only for GCU student-athletes to get involved with the community but the local children as well.
Kaeman Mitchell, GCU's L.O.P.E.S. For Life Coordinator, Academics and Student-Athlete Development, was at the arena and summarized the event.
"Back to School Clothing Drive provides school uniforms, shoes and backpacks filled with school supplies to over 5,000 local kids," Mitchell said. "This is a tremendous opportunity for our student-athletes to get involved with local kids and help them get ready for the upcoming school year."
    All students, pre-selected and pre-registered by their schools, are bussed to GCU Arena which is transformed into a one-stop-shop for school supplies. From there, they are assigned a personal shopper to help them select the correct supplies. Each child takes home around $350 worth of school supplies coming to an estimated total of $1.8 million by the end of the event. This year, collaborations with other organizations such as Arizona Helping hands, Arizona Friends of Foster Families and Children First Academy has grown the outreach so that more than 25,000 students will receive supplies throughout the school year.
The event runs from July 23-26 from 7:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day inside GCU Arena.
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