The Paw Print

A news publication created by Baruch's College Now high school journalism class

Archives for August 2018

Queens Church on Immigration

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Immigration is a topic discussed among several platforms, such as art and scripture. It has been discussed throughout history but more so in today’s society.  

The 14-16-year-old class of the Greater Allen Cathedral in Queens, NY is preparing a skit on immigration for Sunday School.

T.W., 15, identifies as an African-American female. When asked the reason for portraying the issue of immigration in America as a skit, she said, “an immigration skit shows people what immigration’s about.” In other words, the injustices people have to go through. She hopes the skit will open people’s eyes to the injustices immigrants have to go through in America. The term ‘illegal immigrant’ upsets her, she said. “They call immigrants illegal, it’s like not fair.”  

T.S., 16, identifies as a Trinidadian-American male. He hopes the skit will change the way immigrants are treated when entering America. When asked about the effect of the term ‘illegal immigrant’ on him, he said, “It doesn’t really affect me but it affects others around me.”  

K.C., 16, identifies as a Haitian-American female. She hopes the skit will help the government see what it is doing to families. She said she doesn’t mind if immigrants are ‘illegal,’ but finds it problematic if they are also criminals.  

T.M., 15, identifies as a Jamaican-American male. He believes immigration is an important topic to discuss. He hopes the skit will help immigrants be accepted and start a new life in America. The term ‘illegal immigrant’ impacts him because it makes him “think about how we have so much and a lot of people do not and [they’re] getting taken away from their families.” He is very sympathetic toward the families ICE is separating. When asked about what he’s been told about ICE, he answered, “I feel like they’re doing an unfair thing, that people need to be able to come into this country and feel safe.”  

T.J., 15, identifies as an African-American male. He hopes the skit will be meaningful to people. The term ‘illegal immigrant’ impacts him because “if I wasn’t from here, it would be hard to get here.”  

Sister L.H, the teacher, identifies as an African-American female. She hopes the skit will “move others to action and because of the heightened awareness that a skit will bring, that they will understand that they have the power to do something.” When asked about what she’s been told about ICE, she answered, “ICE is an organization that basically patrols the border…they patrol the border in the sense that they’re the ones responsible for…I don’t want to just say apprehending people who come across the border because they should also be directing them to the proper authorities.”  

The teacher as well as the students were asked, “If you were undocumented, would you flee or would you stay and fight for you and every other undocumented person?” T.W. and T.S. said they would flee. K.C., T.M., T.J., and Sis. L.H. said they’d fight to stay.  

The students and the teacher said immigration is important to them individually. T.S. said, “On a [scale] from one to ten, probably like eight.” K.C. said, “It’s important because you know families are being separated from each other and that’s like really sad.” T.M.  said, “It’s very important because if I was put in their shoes, I would want to be [treated] the same as everyone else.” T.J. believes diversity itself is important. Sis. L.H. said, “Immigration is very important to me because I understand that most of America was built on the contributions of immigrants from different countries.” 

Immigration is a very controversial topic that can spark sensitivity within many living in America. Immigration in what it’s come to today has been made to be an upsetting topic for many. It has driven many families apart and broken many families that have been reunited. The Greater Allen Cathedral is being brave in discussing a topic so large that has many different opinions around it. They hope to make a difference in performing this skit and with that, spark greater discussion. Many live in fear of what could happen but forget that there is always now. The GAC shows the reality of it while also trying to spark hope in people. This shows determination for change and empathy for those affected. 

What is Summer Streets?

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You’re riding your bike in the crowded New York City streets to get food because you are starving and haven’t eaten anything all day. You come up to a stop light for what feels like forever and get annoyed, wishing you could just ride through the light without getting hit by a car. Well…you can!

 

Summer Streets is an annual celebration that takes place on three consecutive Saturdays from 7am to 1pm in Manhattan. You can freely ride your bike, walk on the side, or run along Park Avenue between City Hall Park and East 72nd Street and Central Park with no cars in your way.

 

Summer Streets gives New Yorkers the opportunity to experience the city in a whole new way. It’s a way to encourage people to take a more enjoyable and sustainable form of transportation. According to the Summer Streets website, “In 2017, nearly 300,000 people took advantage of the open streets.”

 

Five rest stops along Park Avenue offer activities such as yoga, dancing, food stops, a 30 foot zip-line and more! The best part is that it is entirely free. Summer streets is for all ages, not to mention it’s a way to start your Saturday morning. This year Summer Streets takes place on August 4, 11 and 18. Some riders even go to Summer Streets every year so they don’t miss out on anything.

 

Despite the fact that it was pouring rain, I went to Summer Streets on August 4 with my dad and rode my bike, stopping along the avenue to ask workers there some questions.

 

A volunteer at Summer Streets standing beside a table filled with New Yorkers making origami and learning how to ride bikes has been working at Summer Streets for the last five years. “People love Summer Streets in the rain. We had two young boys learn to ride bikes in the rain and they were ecstatic. I think this separates the rain lovers from the rest of us,” she said.

 

She continued to explain that, despite waking up at 4:30, she loves that she can share her joy of bicycling with everyone. “I would recommend Summer Streets to everyone, There is something for everyone here,” she said.

 

On the other side of the street, riders could get a customized helmet and take pictures in a tent. One of the volunteers working in that area had just started volunteering for Summer Streets that day. He goes to Stuyvesant High School. “Of course I would recommend Summer Streets to anyone, it’s super fun and brings people together. You can ride your bike in the wide open street with no cars. I went with my family to Summer Streets every year and this year I decided to volunteer,” he said.

 

According to the Summer Streets website, “Summer Streets is modeled on other events from around the world including Ciclovia en Bogotá, Colombia and the Paris Plage in France and has since inspired other such events around the world such as Ciclo Recreo Via and London’s Regent Street Summer Streets.”

 

West Side Community Garden Transforms from Nauseating to Beautiful

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By: Russell Stern

As a cool summer night wind blows and plants shine in the moonlight, dozens enter the West Side Community Garden, on 89th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam. They are going to see a concert, a smooth jazz quartet with piano, bass and drums. As they stride through the garden, they marvel at the beautiful berry patches and roses.

When the garden was first founded, however, people wouldn’t even think of going near it.

In 1975, the site was a large vacant lot strewn with nauseating garbage and dilapidated and stripped cars. It was even known as “strip city” among locals at the time. Crime and theft were on the rise in New York City, with the number of murders increasing by over 1,000 in a span of ten years and the number of robberies increasing by over 60,000.

“The vacant lot was part of the West Side Urban Renewal Plan, which aimed to renew and rebuild urban slums, and the lot was filled with rubble from buildings that used to be here,” Jackie Bukowski, former president and current legal counsel to the Garden Board, stated in an interview. “The Upper West Side was really a slum at the time, and there was a huge amount of crime. There were a lot of youthful gangs.”

“Watch West Side Story, and you’ll get the idea,” she added with a laugh.

Originally, Bukowski and the garden’s founders, Jerry Kretchmer and Joe Wasserman, did not need permission from the City of New York to clear out the vacant lot, which took up the entire block between 89th and 90th Street, and half the block between Columbus and Amsterdam. With the help of other volunteers, they completely cleaned up the lot and planted tomatoes and beds of flowers and vegetables. Several years later, though, when they wanted to modernize the garden, they were forced to enter into negotiations with the City Community Planning Board. The city planned to sell the lot to private developers to construct a high-rise apartment building and attached townhouses. The negotiations led to the garden winning permanent status in the city in 1985, by merely one vote. However, the size of the garden was greatly reduced.

“We had to make negotiations with Community Board 7 for six years, and the city wanted us to lease a small piece of the garden land and have us pay money for it,” said Bukowski. “But we established ourselves as a nonprofit organization and in 1989, the city granted us a deed and we became the owners of the land. We were able to accomplish this because we had many people supporting us, and kept lobbying members of the City Council.”

Once they became the owners of the land, community garden members established the concept for the public flower park and amphitheater. Construction began in the fall of 1989, and in the summer of 1990, the new garden was finally ready. It became a prominent oasis where frequent performances, plays and musical festivals are held.

Two of William Shakespeare’s tragedies, Macbeth and Julius Caesar, as well as music performances, have been held in the garden. James Winn, a pianist, and Rolf Schulte, a violinist, have played songs by Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, and Richard Strauss.

“The fundraiser we had for our first event was very special,” Bukowski mentioned. “It was the Macbeth play. It was fabulous. That’s probably the best play the garden’s ever held. The actors were amazing.”

The West Side Community Garden transformed what had been a rat-infested, garbage-filled junkyard into one of the Upper West Side’s most popular public gardens. This summer alone, the garden has sponsored numerous events, including a spring tulip festival, a July 4th potluck dinner, several movie nights, and a production of Shakespeare’s comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor. And if Jackie Bukowski and her friends have their way, it will continue to thrive for decades to come.

God Is A Woman Controversy

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by: Yobany Reyes

Singer Ariana Grande’s latest release, the song “God Is A Woman,” has caused quite the controversy among religious individuals who believe using God as a metaphor for sex and referring to God as a woman are blasphemous.

Grande makes various allusions to sex throughout the song, including, “And I, I feel it after midnight/A feeling that you can’t fight/My one, it lingers when we’re done/You’ll believe God is a woman.”

She describes sex as a spiritual experience, according to Genius,  a digital media company which lists the verified lyrics and interpretations to them.

On the controversy, Grande replied to a fan via Twitter, stating, “I was expecting it and of course understand it… but it’s art. It’s okay if not everybody understands everything I do. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be myself and inspire others to do that as well. I would rather do that than play it safe.”

According to Genius, the music video for the song includes various biblical allusions, such as Michaelangelo’s Creation of Adam, references to art, such as Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker, and references to mythology, such as the three-headed dog Cerberus, the figures Romulus and Remus, and the Pantheon, which houses the gods of Roman mythology.

The song also makes a point of rejecting misogyny and negativity with the lyrics, “(Yeah) And I can be all the things you told me not to be/(Yeah) When you try to come for me, I keep on flourishing.”

The music video includes a scene of Grande deflecting misogynistic slurs being flung at her by angry men.

Despite Grande’s use of God in her song, the song itself is not about religion. Using God as a metaphor for greatness is not uncommon in art, and has been done by popular artists such as Kanye West (who named his sixth album Yeezus, which lists a song titled “I Am God”) and Drake (who recently released the song “God’s Plan” where he says, “Might go down a G.O.D.”).

Grande’s assertion that God is a woman received significant criticism, while such assertions made by male artists go uncriticized, highlighting the misogyny and double standards Grande speaks of in her music. The usage of God highlights female empowerment that Grande advocates for both inside and outside her music.

Religion itself is open to interpretation, and Grande’s use of God is one of those interpretations.

The Remake of ‘Boys Over Flowers’ Everyone is Anticipating

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By: Nayely Deleon

When Shancai, the female lead of Meteor Garden, entered college, she never thought she would get caught up in a love triangle between two of the most popular guys at school.

Meteor Garden is a Chinese television series based on the wildly popular Japanese manga series, Hana Yori Dango, which has been made into Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese television series. It first aired on July 9, 2018 and is available on Netflix with new episodes released each week. Over 40 episodes will be released by the end of the summer with subtitles available.

This highly anticipated drama does not fail to capture the hearts of many fans, including mine.

The show revolves around a girl named Dong Shancai who begins her college journey at the elite Mingde University where she majors in nutrition. After standing up to F4, a rich and powerful group of 4 seniors, she gains their respect and captures the leader of the group, Daoming Si’s, attention.

The show follows a Cinderella-like love story. Daoming Si, who comes from a wealthy and renowned family, risks his life to win over Shancai, who comes from a working class family.

Although Shancai is portrayed as painfully dense and is often put through various unrealistic situations, she values friendship and is protective of her friends. For example, after hearing that her best friend, Jiang Xiao You, was last seen outside during a blizzard, Shancai rushed out and spent hours trying to find her despite nearly freezing to death.

Even though not all the scenes are very realistic, this is what classifies the show as a drama. Without these dramatic scenes, the plot would be boring and dull.

The acting—although a bit overdone—is fairly impressive and makes it easy to understand how the characters are feeling. The camera angles, quality, and cinematography are also top-notch. In a must-see scene that continues to baffle me, Shancai sends a flying kick to Daoming Si’s head. The shot freezes their positions and the cameras move around them, making it seem like time has stopped.

“What I love is that—in this version—I can actually tell that the male lead really likes the female lead… He’s clearly got personality issues and doesn’t know how to communicate (not a surprise if you’ve seen the other versions), but I find myself liking him a bit more,” said a fan on My Drama List’s review section of Meteor Garden.

Some may argue that the show’s plot progresses very quickly in the first few episodes, however that “prevent[s] it from being draggy and we [are] already met with iconic scenes in just the first episode… [these changes] actually made it better,” says Gab Agar from Drama Panda.

Since the show has not finished airing, it has lots of potential and many fans—including myself—sit at the edge of our seats waiting to find out what happens next. So far, Netflix has released 20 episodes. New episodes are released Tuesday-Thursday.

Americans do not usually watch Asian dramas. Whether that is because the drama is in a different language, the plot is too traditional, or simply because the program was not produced in the U.S, people are definitely missing out.

We are the Youth and We Speak for the Trees

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By: Sage Moccia

“Children are the future” is the platitude selected to pressure the young into making a change, but it is also a solid point. Throughout the centuries, human-related climate change has been noticeable, but recently the consequences have grown far beyond our dismissive tendencies.

According to NASA, from 1900-2000, Earth’s average temperature increased by two degrees Fahrenheit. While two degrees might not seem critical, Earth’s average climate had been stable for centuries prior. A minute change in heat will result in huge dilemmas to come.

Because some don’t see it affecting them anytime soon, or they just don’t buy it, many individuals do not take a stand against climate change. However, negative shifts from climate change are self-evident in our everyday lives, such as more intense heat waves, increased precipitation, and worse to come hurricanes.

But kids around the country aren’t standing for it. Teenagers have been taking a stand by conducting youth-led movements and marches to spread the much-needed word about encouraging change. While they may seem to be working on borrowed time, giving up is not an option.

Zero Hour is a youth-led, climate oriented, organization created by 16-year-old Jamie Margolin to speak up for the Earth. She and five other fighting activists have spent the last year creating this movement. On July 21, 2018, Zero Hour protested at the National Mall in Washington. They’ve also met with 40 federal lawmakers to discuss their platforms.

Young activists bring an advantage to physical movements that common marches don’t have. Bringing people so young to fight for such significant matters also brings more merit to the causes themselves. Adolescents now are the ones who will have to live with the consequences of climate change within the next ten years, and then continue to pass those consequences down to generations to come. This is not a trait that we will let be prominent on the face of the future.

This is not the only youth-led movement with fiery appetites to improve something. A couple others have taken the stage and melded with Zero Hour to show the adults in charge that we won’t stand for this.

The Youth Progressive Policy Group works with a number of causes, but most recently they have been working with problems concerning climate change. They meet with political figures and try to urge them to advocate for bills to alter environmental conditions. The group’s latest meeting promoted reducing carbon emission within the world’s atmosphere. The leader of The Youth Progressive Policy Group, Sylvana Widman, has concluded that currently, fossil fuel emissions are doing the most harm, so that takes priority. The Youth Progressive Policy Group continues to fight and march at every opportunity possible.

We can’t expect to get what we want without demanding it. The youth must come together and remind the adults that we don’t have much time left.

This is our planet. This is our home. How far will we let this go?

Injured Sluggers Return: Gary Sanchez and Yoenis Cespedes

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By: Russell Stern

Ailing sluggers Gary Sanchez and Yoenis Cespedes returned to their respective lineups Friday night, as the Bronx Bombers faced off against the New York Mets before a sold out crowd at Yankee Stadium. However, while Cespedes powered the Mets to a 7 to 5 victory over the Yankees, Sanchez fizzled at the plate, leaving several runners on base in key situations.

Cespedes, who was on the disabled list for 57 days with a hip and quadriceps injury, came into Friday’s game batting .255 with 8 home runs and 28 runs batted in. Normally a left-fielder, Cespedes was instead used as a designated hitter to avoid aggravating his injury. Sanchez missed 25 days because of a right groin strain but was healthy enough to catch the entire game for the Yankees. Prior to his injury, he was struggling with a .190 batting average, 14 home runs, and 41 RBI’s.

The time off seemed to only benefit Cespedes, who appeared rejuvenated and boosted the Mets’ weak offense.

Cespedes went 2 for 4 with a walk, shooting a single into right field and smacking a home run off the Yankee rookie right-handed starting pitcher, Domingo Germán.

After the game, Cespedes said he felt well and that his timing was good, according to the Daily News.

Sanchez’s performance, on the other hand, was a different story. Out of the 14 runners the Yankees left on base, he stranded six. Sanchez went 1 for 5, stroking a meaningless single while striking out swinging two times, softly grounding out to short, and lazily popping out to second. He failed to capitalize on various opportunities the Yankees had throughout the game.

After the game, Sanchez said to a reporter through an interpreter, “Definitely don’t feel good about it. Had opportunities to help my team and I didn’t help my team tonight. I’ve got to put that aside and move toward tomorrow and hopefully find myself in a situation where I’m able to do my job tomorrow.” He said that he hopes he will be able to perform well against Mets’ pitcher Steven Matz on Saturday.

Friday’s game was the 16th Yankee home sellout of the 2018 season, hosting a crowd of 47,175 people. This Subway Series game was of particular interest to New York baseball fans because Mets’ fireballing starting pitcher, Noah Syndergaard, was making his Yankee Stadium debut. Syndergaard, whose average fastball velocity hovers around 97.9 miles per hour, also recently returned from an injury to his right index finger.

Despite not pitching at his best, Syndergaard still pitched effectively, giving up only one run on eight hits and striking out four. He didn’t walk any batters, and mostly threw strikes.

In contrast, Germán had a difficult outing. In only 3.2 innings, he allowed four earned runs on five hits. Although he struck out three batters, he also walked two.

Yankees’ manager Aaron Boone commented on the young starter’s performance at a post-game press conference. “You could tell he was really struggling to find that fastball command, and if you don’t have that, you know, you’re going to be in trouble,” he said.

Boone added, however, that Germán showed potential and could develop to be a very good pitcher. He had several excellent starts with the Yankees but struggled in recent outings. On account of this, the Yankees sent him down to the minor leagues shortly after the game.

The Yankees continue their homestand against the Mets on Saturday afternoon with their right-handed pitcher Sonny Gray facing off against Steven Matz. The series concludes on Sunday with Masahiro Tanaka pitching against Mets’ ace Jacob DeGrom.

‘This is America’: Satirical Commentary or Subliminal Warning?

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Childish Gambino a.k.a Donald Glover

Despite the early devotion of white patriarchy to construct an ideal country, the topic of equality has always been a difficult thing to manage in the US. With women and African-Americans seeking the privileges white men have, the demand for equality has slowly, but surely been met over time.

However, racism and discrimination still linger in the world today. To counteract this, many movements started along with creations such as Donald Glover’s “This is America” released on May 5,2018 on Youtube. This satirical criticism of America’s tendencies analyzes what America has come to.

Donald, otherwise known as Childish Gambino, has used his fame to create a song that not only embodies the harsh reality of America, but uses it to help people focus on important subjects such as racism, police brutality, and gun violence. This is done through Donald’s nihilistic view on the world. He expresses this view through the choreography and lyricism of the music video.

One example is in the video where it begins in a very light tone, with repeated lyrics while Gambino contorts his body towards the man playing guitar. Donald dons gold chains, raggedy pants and an untrimmed beard. This alludes mostly to how slaves looked. His sporadic movements into smooth movements, induce a feeling of discomfort that African-Americans feel living in America while police brutality and racism exists.

At the 0:53 mark, the character Gambino plays pulls out a firearm from his back pocket and shoots the man playing guitar. This immediately catches the viewer off-guard. It completely juxtaposes the tone of the beginning of the video into something much darker. The pose he does while this occurs is believed to be reminiscent of a Jim Crow drawing.

Right after the first killing, Gambino places the gun he used carefully into the arms of a young African-American youth holding a red cloth. Two more young adult African-Americans then drag the dead body away from the camera’s perspective. This entails that whoever is doing the killing, which I believe to be America itself holds guns to be of more importance than the deaths they cause. America consistently has protected the rights of guns despite the amount of destruction they are able to do and as shown via the dragging. The youth of the country are then forced to deal with the burden and clean up the messes America makes.

Something really important to take note of after each killing Gambino is responsible for is that there are no consequences. Taking the character of America as a whole, it shows the power it holds in creating destruction and never facing no repercussions in return.

The crimes he commits result in no consequences, making him invulnerable and above the law. This is because Gambino represents white America. In the video, white America is free to kill any black man, woman, or child. It is the grim surrealism that African-American men and women have to face while living in an America where white men control almost everything happening in it.

Also showing what America has come to is the lyric, “you just a black man in the world you just a barcode”. This line references how people gain profit from barcodes. They scan them with the gun and then pull the trigger. It represents that no matter how much wealth or power an African-American may possess, white America will find a way to profit off of you whether it be through music, media, and more.

“This is America” pays homage to the insolence of white America and how the country’s foundation is built on systematic oppression of other races. We all live in the same nation, yet discrimination occurs no matter who you are. Gambino perfectly depicts this rift between races by showing the targeting of black Americans by eloquently orchestrated choreography and lyrics. The country’s alarming rates of inequality is why it will eventually implode.

 

Is ‘Thirteen Reasons Why’ Safe for Teens to Watch?

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Thirteen Reasons Why is a Netflix original series in which a teenage girl, Hannah Baker, commits suicide and leaves behind 13 tapes for each person she deemed responsible.

The producer of the series, Selena Gomez, has battled with both depression and anxiety in her life.

On one hand, the series is very gruesome and has trigger warnings for almost all episodes. On the other, it is very eye opening and sparks discussion for taboo subjects that need to be discussed such as sexual assault, addiction, suicide, bullying, sexuality, gangs, criminals, the justice system, peer pressure, PTSD, anxiety, depression, mental disorders, relationships, friendships, grief, intervention, recovery, and racism. The show sheds light on these subjects by presenting them in a sort of in-your-face manner.

It is no secret that the episodes can be upsetting to some, but it is the viewer’s job to determine whether or not to keep watching as well as which episodes to skip (if any). The writers and producers of Thirteen Reasons Why have repeatedly advised both young and old viewers not to binge, but to take breaks between episodes.

Anyone below the age of 14, anyone with severe depression, victims of sexual assault experiencing PTSD, anyone who does not like serious topics discussed onscreen, anyone autistic, anyone homophobic, and/or anyone with severe anxiety, should not watch the show for their own safety.

Each season consists of 13 episodes and because there is a small amount of episodes and a large amount to discuss, many upsetting things, both verbal and visual, are packed into one episode. In the second episode of Beyond the Reasons, a piggyback series off Thirteen Reasons Why, the meanings behind the episodes and the purpose of scripting them the way the writers did was a major discussion. There were also professional psychologists on the writing team because the writers needed help to figure out what was okay to script and what was not.

Triggers were also discussed during Beyond the Reasons because copycat suicides are a risk. However, the creators were trying to open people’s eyes and get them to understand that there is absolutely “nothing glamorous about suicide” and it should never be seen as an option. Brian Yorkey, the series co-writer, said during an interview. He makes it known that Hannah’s death was portrayed as a painful experience and should not be repeated by anyone in any way.

The 13th episode of the 2nd season depicted a scene of an especially brutal sexual assault and a murder attempt. A character, Tyler Down was jumped then sexually assaulted in a school restroom with a mop by a group of guys on the baseball team. He then went home and gathered a few handheld weapons to put in a car before driving to the school with the intent of shooting up the dance. He’d never gotten a chance to because another character, Clay Jensen stood in front of Tyler’s gun and stopped him from entering the school. Tyler eventually surrendered after hearing Clay out.

A couple of obvious triggers in this episode are sexual assault and gun violence. Although these are concerning for viewers, there is a clear warning before the episode starts that states, “The following episode contains graphic depictions of sexual assault & drug abuse, which some viewers may find disturbing. It is intended for mature audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.”

Watching the show on Netflix will give viewers an opportunity to choose whether or not it’s in their best interests to continue watching. The show is safe for mature teens and adults that can handle the topics being depicted and discussed in the show, being that it is rated TV-MA.

However, it can be educational to watch but also worthwhile. In the first season, the story line is more of a mystery whereas the second season has more of a “law & order” story line. This eases the tension of the suicidal background and gives a more slightly entertaining side of the story to make it easier to watch while still taking in the information the way it should be.

Making a Difference One Sandwich at a Time

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On July 19th at 7 P.M., local residents and interns of Assemblyman Brian Barnwell gathered at the St. Sebastian Roman Catholic Church in Queens to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the hungry.

The program runs on donations and volunteering, according to an intern. She explained local small businesses and supermarkets give bread and other resources, but emphasized the importance of other community donations.

“You want to give back to the community,” said another intern about her philosophy. All of Barnwell’s young interns agreed that we waste a lot of food, so we should be helping people as a community with what we have.

Not only do those in need benefit from the good service, but volunteers involved share a “community bonding experience,” according to a college senior helping Barnwell. “It’s more tangible than complaining about hunger.”

Steven, who called himself the community liaison, explained the sandwiches are stored in boxes to be collected by City Harvest, a nonprofit food rescue organization. The boxes are shipped to shelters, a volunteer reported.

Another intern preparing sandwiches said he came to the space provided by the church to help out the homeless, which he tries to do whenever he can.

Crystal and Joseph, siblings who came to the event with their mother, were hard at work spreading peanut butter and jelly on slices of bread. Joseph admitted the service helped him with “getting out and doing something useful instead of doing something useless at home.”

Steven reported these projects have been held since fall, and interns want the event to grow and attract more volunteers as sessions are held in the future.

“Brian cares a lot about the community,” claimed an intern who wished to remain anonymous.