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Local Organization Plans to Make 10,000 Sandwiches to Fight Hunger

By Sybile Penhirin | October 16, 2014 2:14pm
  One Sandwich at a Time wants to bring awareness about homelessness and hunger in New York by making and distributing sandwiches to shelters and food pantries.
One Sandwich at a Time
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MANHATTAN — The homeless advocacy group One Sandwich at a Time plans to make 10,000 sandwiches Thursday in the hopes of feeding every hungry New Yorker for World Food Day.

“Homelessness is a sensitive topic, a lot of people don’t know how to help, but you can’t go wrong with food. Everyone likes a sandwich,” the group's co-founder Erin Dinan said.

On Thursday, the group will get a little extra help from other non-profits, including One Heart For Women and Children and The Doe Fund.

Volunteers will gather at Peter Jay Sharp Residence, an SRO at 223 East 117th St, at 6:30 p.m. to start spreading peanut butter and jelly.

They will also prepare ham and cheese sandwiches with ingredients donated by Trader Joe's and One Heart for Women and Children amongst others.

Anyone is welcome to volunteer, Dinan said.

She said she expects up to 4,000 sandwiches to prepared during the two-hour public event Thursday night while thousands more will be made throughout the day at sandwich-making workshops hosted in companies across the city, including Microsoft.

“We’d like people to realize they can really make a difference with their own two hands,” Dinan, a 31 year-old photographer living in Chelsea, said. “Hunger is something that affects millions and it something that can be changed”.

One Sandwich usually distributes the sandwiches themselves to shelters and food pantries across the city, but because of the large amount of food, City Harvest will be in charge of distributing the supplies on Thursday night.

Crossroads Community Services, St Paul’s House and Volunteers of America and Wards Island Help Supportive Employment Center are some of the food pantries that will receive the sandwiches.

Dinan, who manages the organization during the day and works at the reception desk of the W Hotel at night, said she started the organization a few months after she shared her sandwich with a homeless man in Grand Central terminal.

“It was a tall thin man, probably in his 50s with a big sweater and ripped pants. He was begging for money to buy food and I just remember his gratitude when I gave him half of my sandwich,” Dinan said. Even though she never saw that man again, Dinan said the connection she had with him inspired her to raise awareness about homelessness. "There are just so many people in need in the city," she said.

One Sandwich launched in early 2012 and received the United Nations "Local Hero" World Humanitarian Day Awards that same year. Since then, the non-profit has been hosting monthly sandwich-making events and distributed about 30,000 sandwiches across the city, gathering food donations from individuals and grocery stores such as Whole Food and Trader Joe’s. 

“It’s a simple idea but I really believe we can make a difference,” Dinan said.

The city's homeless population has increased 22 percent since 2012, from 46,631 to 56,987, according to the Department of Homeless Services.

Check the organization's Facebook page for its next sandwich-making event. Donations inquiries and other questions can be sent to: onesandwichatatime@gmail.com .