Campus Ministry hosted an event with Fordham University students and St. Ignatius Middle School (SIS) students, where they made lunch packs for a local Bronx food pantry. This event was part of a seven-year-long ongoing partnership with Campus Ministry and the SIS.
On Wednesday, March 9, Robert Parmach, senior director of Ignatian Mission and education, and Alex Hufford, S.J., bought $100 worth of bread, squeezable jelly, Jif peanut butter, Capri-Sun juice pouches, Welch’s fruit snacks, paper bags and napkins for the lunches. Although the program’s budget was not large, donations and discounts enabled them to purchase the necessary materials, according to Parmach.
By early Friday afternoon, those supplies were packed into a Ram Van with two Fordham students and driven roughly 30 minutes from Rose Hill to SIS in the South Bronx by Parmach. For about an hour, the Fordham pair and 13 middle schoolers had an afternoon of service, mentoring and reflection led by Hufford and Parmach.
Parmach said this program focused on three touchpoints: community service, Ignatian reflection and informal mentoring.
“So this idea of really trying to connect the head, heart and hands in many ways to show that we’re operationalizing what our shared values are about,” Parmach said.
The event kicked off with everyone gathering in a circle and introducing themselves. Afterwards, the group set up a tabling station designed as an assembly line for peak performance. Juice boxes and Welch’s fruit snacks were at the head of the line, with sandwich-making materials positioned in the middle and the packing station at the end.
Students split off into groups with one Fordham student per section, and everyone worked in tandem to assemble peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
“We are doing it meaningfully, we’re doing it intentionally, but also having fun during that period,” Parmach said.
Within about 50 minutes, the group produced more than 200 peanut butter and jelly sandwich packs.
One SIS student said she felt “overjoyed” running back and forth between stations, serving as the “runner.”
While there were 13 SIS students, only two Fordham students ultimately attended, despite five signing up in advance. Factors such as the program taking place on a Friday could have affected the turnout, according to Parmach, but this ratio of students is preferred.
After the packs were assembled and distributed into five bags, the tables were cleaned up and everyone gathered in a circle for a short reflection. SIS students described the experience with single-word reactions such as “teamwork,” “gratitude” and “fun.”
The reflection segment is an important part of the program, according to Parmach.
“Obviously, we want to do something meaningful, but the real focus is less on that and more about the experience,” Parmach said. “They’re collaborating, they’re engaged, they’re laughing and having fun. We do a common reflection and ultimately, there’s some mentoring going on.”
There are several events that are part of the “Mission-in-Action” program and held each semester, such as making school supply packs for the New York City Housing Authority kids.
“We’ve done some mentoring sessions there that had music college preparedness. We had another one during the holiday season,” Parmach said. “So we try to find creative ways to reflect, to come together and to do some mentoring.”
The black garbage bags full of the homemade lunch packs were ultimatley given to the food shelter.
“Take a chance,” he said. “You’ll meet other Fordham students. You’ll learn a lot about yourself. The events are always organized and there’s an intentionality behind it.”
