Members of Syracuse University’s greek community planned to make as many sandwiches for the hungry as possible in a one-hour span. But with the intensity of the participants’ spirit, they ran out of bread and supplies in just 15 minutes.

Students from 50 fraternity and sorority chapters came together Sunday to craft 1,815 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the Samaritan Center, a local soup kitchen. The Samaritan Center provides 300 meals each weekday and serves lunch on weekends, said Karen Belgrader, development director of the Samaritan Center. The Samaritan Center sees 800 volunteers a month and supplies 114,000 meals a year to the homeless and less fortunate, she said.

The event, “Just Bring Your Hands,” kicked off National Ritual Celebration Week for greek organizations nationwide.

“I think you often see greek life being portrayed from one side — the party side of things,” said Kevin Aziz, brother of Phi Delta Theta and a junior computer science and mathematics major.  “We definitely have a strong presence in giving back to the community. It’s a really rewarding experience and a really great way to give back.”

More than 30 tables in the Schine Student Center Underground held eight to 10 members of different fraternities and sororities. The Underground was a flurry of students and sandwich bags as “Peanut Butter Jelly Time” by the Buckwheat Boyz and other songs blasted throughout the room to amplify the excitement.

Students competed to make the most sandwiches in one hour. For every five to six sandwiches each table made, a student ran them to the front of the room and a representative marked tallies on a sheet under their table number.

Greek members, with visible enthusiasm, crafted sandwiches so fast they ran out of supplies in under fifteen minutes. They originally hoped to make at least 900 sandwiches in an hour, but the students made over 1,000 in a fraction of the time.

Chanel Peguero, a member of Sigma Iota Alpha, said she enjoyed meeting new people and was there to win.

“It’s a good way to get a lot of people to do something good and give back to our community at the same time,” said Peguero, a biology major. “It’s a competition and everyone is intense. We have to beat the other teams, while at the same time meeting someone new that we’ve never worked with before.”

The Samaritan Center received the sandwiches and hopes to work with Syracuse University in the future. Evan Konecky, a graduate assistant in the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs and brother of Delta Tau Delta, said he anticipates the event will become a tradition for the SU greek community. He organized the event with five governing council members.

Konecky said each philanthropic event can also educate students. He said he hopes students heard about the Samaritan Center and understood why the students donate money and time each year to organizations in Syracuse.

“It’s not just helping the local soup kitchen, it’s serving our community,” Konecky said. “Hopefully we do well this year and next year, and maybe students will take ownership of this project and run with it.”

Jamie Baron, a new member of Delta Delta Delta, made sandwiches in her first greek philanthropic event. She said she enjoyed the experience and looks forward to the next event.

“It was really fun and everyone was really excited,” Baron said. “We ran out of bread so fast, and that’s awesome. Everyone was so into it.”

Belgrader, the development director from the Samaritan Center, spoke to the students about the center and thanked them for their service.

“It’s an amazing feeling to have all of these students standing here in line to come and help out,” Belgrader said. “It’s amazing that people will outreach and help one another.”

Published on March 3, 2014 at 2:16 am

Contact Jackie: jmfrere@syr.edu | @jackie_frere