EDITOR'S NOTE: The following story was published originally in the February issue of GCU Magazine, available in the purple bins across campus or digitally. You can find archived GCU Magazines here.
Two years ago, Mariza Barron of Reborn Church, a small neighborhood church at 31st Avenue and West Indian School Road, needed help delivering 400 boxes of food and hygiene products that a company donated for a Feed My Starving Children event.
Without hesitation, she called Nathan Cooper, director of Grand Canyon University CityServe.
She knew the outreach ministry could get it done.
“He said, ‘Let’s do it, we can help you.’ Then he called (university) President Brian Mueller, and he said, ‘Let’s sponsor another 400.’ We did 800 boxes in total,” said Barron, whose church partners with GCU in its work in the community. “GCU CityServe has always been so courteous and amazing. These are the people who genuinely care. I can call them and say, ‘Hey, there is a family whose house just burned down and this is what they need,’ and they will just pull together whatever they can.”
GCU CityServe has been doing that for almost 4 ½ years now.
After countless hours of work, partnering with numerous organizations, hosting thousands of volunteers and working alongside the community, GCU CityServe in the fall reached an impressive milestone.
It served families more than 100,000 times.
And that number has grown. As of January 2026, the campus ministry has served families more than 108,260 times.
In the midst of the pandemic, GCU partnered with CityServe International – a network of churches that works to address their communities’ “last mile of need.” The university would create a distribution hub, GCU CityServe, that would be the organization’s first university-based distribution warehouse. It would serve the state of Arizona and would do so with the goal of being the hands and feet of Jesus.
The distribution warehouse would tend to people’s needs by providing basic necessities, such as home goods, toiletries and groceries; moreover, it would be committed to transforming broken communities.
“We have grown very quickly,” Cooper said. “I didn’t think we would hit that milestone in that short time. There is a lot of hurt happening in Phoenix and in the state of Arizona. We want to do whatever we can to alleviate that as much as we can.”
CityServe International co-founder Dave Donaldson had wanted to partner with a university driven by a missional heart. The largest Christian university in the country was the perfect match for his vision and an impactful means to extending helping hands further into the world.
The warehouse, which includes the equivalent of 88,800 square feet of space in Building 66 at GCU’s 27th Avenue business complex, became the distribution site that many churches and nonprofits have turned to for help.
Phoenix native Leslie Maldonado’s family is just one of the families touched by GCU CityServe. Maldonado had been in contact with Barron, sharing how her family couldn’t afford basic furniture to equip their new home. Barron again reached out to Cooper.
Without delay, a couch was on its way to the Maldonado home.
“It has been a definite blessing to our family,” Maldonado said. “Just being able to all sit together, share those moments where we don’t have to sit on lawn furniture.
“They helped me, but then I was able to help others through them because I started volunteering at some of the distribution events. It’s one thing for them to help you, but when you are able to help other people, it is uplifting and makes you feel good you can give back.”
Every week, GCU CityServe receives truckloads of donated home goods, appliances and other necessities from major retailers, such as Walmart, Home Depot and Amazon. Each truckload of goods is estimated to have a retail value, on average, of $50,000.
The staff and student volunteers organize the shipments based on categories, making them readily available for partners to pick up.
Cooper credits the immense growth, in part, to students. They fill the warehouse weekly to help with distribution, organization and everyday tasks.
“I am a firm believer that there’s servant leadership in every student that’s here,” Cooper said. “GCU is different from other universities in that sense, where they really push students to engage in their interests and servant’s hearts.
“We have built such a unique model here, really being able to engage the student body. That is why we are able to do what we are doing.”
Junior Dawson Hammond found his fit at GCU CityServe after searching for a job that would help him nurture a greater good.
“When people come and pick up stuff, we are interacting directly with the organizations that are going out and serving people,” Hammond said. “We are giving goods and services straight to them, and then they come back week after week, saying this and that happened.
“We are seeing the growth in the community through what we are doing here. It has allowed me to serve others and the community in ways that are meaningful.”
What has been meaningful of late to the campus outreach ministry is a focus on cultivating a GCU CityServe Tech branch, which refurbishes technology, such as laptops, and distributes that tech to students, many at the K-12 level, who need them.
It also is expanding its partnership with alumnus Levi Conlow’s company, Lectric eBikes, repairing used or damaged eBikes and tapping into another way to meet the needs of the community by providing micromobility transportation.
And why stop with making an impact in west Phoenix and nearby communities?
GCU CityServe is extending its helping hand to rural and remote communities through deliveries via airplane drop.
“There is a lot to come, but it is really just building a unique model for compassion,” Cooper said.
