Le Moyne College Stories

Providing students with an experience that nourishes mind, body and soul, the LMC Sandwich Makers work to promote a more just society while demonstrating the College’s core mission and values.

The group was founded six years ago by Le Moyne alumni Andrew Lunetta and Anil DaCosta, who were regular volunteers at the Samaritan Center in downtown Syracuse. The Center, which feeds homeless and needy men, women and children, is open for breakfast from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. and dinner from 3:45 to 4:45 p.m. Realizing that many patrons of the Center work long hours during the day and weren’t able to make it back in time for dinner, Lunetta and DaCosta decided that they needed another option for eating dinner – and the LMC Sandwich Makers were born.

Gathering twice a week, the group of students make sandwiches that they deliver to the Samaritan Center two times a week. When the group began it was funded out of Lunetta and DaCosta’s own pockets, and the two worked to make as many sandwiches as possible during the week. Soon after its inception, word spread and soon other students on campus began to get involved, and collections at Sunday Mass were put aside to provide the Sandwich Makers with funding. In 2011, the student club Ignatian Ignite was also able to lend a hand and provide the group with supplies, resulting in more and more sandwiches being made each week.

During the academic year, student volunteers go shopping weekly for sandwich supplies. They also receive donations from Sodexo, which operates the cafeteria on campus, and are given leftover food from Campus Ministry retreats.

“The group’s purpose is to help meet the needs of the hungry of Syracuse on a weekly basis, as well as to raise awareness of the realities of those quite literally down the road from us,” said Grant. “There are so many opportunities to get involved to carry out Le Moyne's mission and values, and I think the Sandwich Makers serve a need by giving food to the hungry, but also open students up to reality at the Samaritan Center.”

Learn More:
Values
Commitment to Service
Campus Ministry
Service & Social Action Organizations on Campus