Fifty thousand. That’s a big number.
Fifty thousand sandwiches. That’s a lot of sandwiches.
On Sunday, May 22, the Christ Our Light Sandwich Makers will make their 50,000th sandwich and about a thousand more.
One Sunday each month, a group of parishioners gather in the school cafeteria to make sandwiches which are delivered the following day to four locations in Camden. On any given “Sandwich Making Sunday” this talented group can make between 900 and 1,400 sandwiches in less than three hours.
Volunteers are invited to bring a loaf or two of king-sized bread, a pound of beef bologna or turkey and a half-pound of cheese. Working at round tables, four to six people perform this labor of love while building community.
On any given Sunday, there may be 50 volunteers who work anywhere between 15 minutes and three hours. They come from within the parish and from outside the parish. They bring their children and grandchildren, their parents, their friends and classmates, neighbors and even co-workers. All are welcome.
Since November 2012, volunteers of all ages have been coming to help make sandwiches and each month, more helping hands arrive to do this work.
The food is donated to Cathedral Kitchen, New Visions, Joseph’s House and the Cathedral’s Lunch Program. Donations from Dietz and Watson, Wegman’s, Shop Rite, BJ’s and an anonymous donor, which have supplemented the supplies donated by the sandwich makers.
Anyone in the neighborhood on May 22 between 8-11 a.m. is invited to stop by — and possibly make the 50,000th sandwich.