MCC Honors Students at #HashtagLunchbag MESA, Ariz. –  On October 26, 15 MCC honors students gathered together to make sandwiches, write inspiring notes and draw on lunch bags. They joined nearly 80 honors students and staff from the 10 Maricopa colleges to participate in a program called #HashtagLunchbag to create and distribute lunches for the homeless.

MCC student Fallon Spoelman said participating in the Hashtag Lunchbag service project was a memorable experience.

“Not only did this event provide a sense of accomplishment by teaming up with other volunteers sharing the common goal of giving back to the homeless community in Phoenix, but it also provided an opportunity for me to really step back and appreciate all the things I take for granted,” Spoelman said. “It's so easy to become absorbed in our own little problems and we forget how much we have, until we see someone who has so little. This experience opened my eyes, and inspires me to be vigilant to the needs of others.”

The event was developed to provide students with an opportunity for service as part of their co-curricular activity requirement. The project was organized by the Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction with the cooperation of the Maricopa Community Colleges District Honors Council. MCC students worked under the direction of MCC honors faculty members Jennifer Wood and Shereen Lerner.

MCC student Brian Vasher echoed Spoelman’s sentiments about the experience.

“Feeding the homeless was a very humbling experience,” Vasher said.  “Seeing what little they had made me appreciate everything in my life.”

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Media Contacts
Dawn Zimmer, 480-461-7892, dawn.zimmer@mesacc.edu 

About Mesa Community College
Mesa Community College provides outstanding transfer and career and technical programs, workforce development, and life-long learning opportunities to residents of the East Valley area of Phoenix, Arizona. MCC excels in teaching, learning and empowering its more than 40,000 students who attend annually to succeed in a local and global community.  Mesa Community College is one of ten colleges that comprise the Maricopa County Community College District. For additional information please visit http://www.mesacc.edu.

About #HashtagLunchbag
#HashtagLunchbag is a humanity service movement dedicated to creating fun environments to bring together diverse groups of compassionate people in local communities across the world to focus out and give back in local communities.