Kids Make Sandwiches for North Texas Homeless

By Sharon Cliff

FLOWER MOUND— The children stand eight to a table, some concentrating on their work while others talk and laugh. They’re all under twelve.

“I’ve never made a sandwich for anybody else — most times my mom makes them for me,” admits 8-year-old Mason Solosko.

Solosko is one of approximately 60 boys and girls in Cub Scouts and Activity Days from local congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who gathered together to make sandwiches for the homeless.

“It’s organized chaos, but listen to the chatter — everyone is having fun,” said Activity Days leader Stephanie Yost.

This is the third year the group has made sandwiches for the SoupMobile, a nonprofit organization that provides food and shelter to the homeless of Dallas.

“The kids love it! They have a great time assembling the sandwiches and enjoy working together,” said Darla Palfreyman, one of the adult volunteers coordinating the project. “They can’t wait to hear how many sandwiches they ended up making, because no one knows until the final count happens.”

This year the group made 1,768 sandwiches, easily surpassing their goal of 1500. The bologna and cheese sandwiches were individually packed in zippered sandwich bags, then stacked in loaf bags for delivery to the SoupMobile.

“It’s important for youth to have hands-on experiences helping others and yet very difficult finding projects for ages as young as eight years old to participate,” said Palfreyman. “We feel grateful to the SoupMan and his staff for providing this opportunity to our youth and the homeless and hungry in the Dallas area.”

The SoupMan and his staff provide homeless people in Dallas a hot soup for lunch, and give a sandwich to save for dinner. The SoupMobile feeds roughly 600 people each day, so the sandwiches this group made will last about three days.

“It’s December and they really need food,” said Abby Yost, age 11. “It’s fun to make sandwiches!”

The goal to help the SoupMobile in its mission to “Feed My Sheep,” is a good fit for this group during the holidays.

“I love this annual event – love seeing the kids in action, love seeing their excitement, love hearing them talk about how important it is to help,” said children’s Primary leader Heather Wade. “The whole thing is fabulous!”