TEMPE, AZ — Josephine Zahn, a mother of two Arizona State University students, along with a handful of other ASU parents, spent Saturday putting together quarantine care bags for those students at ASU currently with COVID-19.
“Each bag is worth about $16. It's not necessarily the value of the bag, it's really the thought behind the bag that we were going for,” Zahn told us at a bag prepping event at State 48 Tavern in Scottsdale.
Three hundred bags were being put together at the weekend event.
While her own two kids aren’t necessarily in quarantine, Zahn believes in the power of coming together as a community to help.
“Every bag is identical. But it's random who it goes to. Obviously, we are maintaining confidentiality. We are giving the bags to ASU, and ASU is handing them out. We have no idea, the only thing we can hope is that whoever receives it gets a smile on their face,” she added.
Inside the bags, students will find anything from snacks, to card activity sets, stress balls and something to drink. There’s also a special gift in each bag money can’t buy.
“Each bag contains a handwritten note from a mom, just a mom who wanted to set up and help one of the students who might be feeling a little homesick,” she said.
According to ASU, 30 students are currently in isolation at the Tempe campus and eight more across other campuses.
With the current COVID-19 situation, as more students are potentially exposed, these bags will be used at some point.