[OC] SANDWICH MAKING

The Grace Community Church kitchen is flooded each Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of every month, as Hwarang Youth Foundation members of the Orange County district gather to put together 200 sandwiches to donate to the Buena Park Navigation Center: a local homeless shelter. A partnership with Grace Community Church (은혜한인교회) in Fullerton, the project has been the Orange County district’s effort to provide a simple, yet carefully made and delicious meal for the homeless for the past [years] years. Specifically, the Sunnyridge chapter and Shilla chapter actively partake in the event. By participating, members dedicate their evening to create the sandwiches from start to finish: from laying out ten rows of bread, to spreading mayonnaise on them, to placing a slice of ham and cheese in each, to packaging each sandwich in a sandwich bag, to labeling it with the church’s Bible verse sticker, to directly delivering the sandwiches to the shelter.

Despite the rather repetitive, mundane tasks of the process, however, members feel purpose and value in the project.

“I like to believe there is something to learn from any experience, no matter how simple or brief it is, and sandwich making has surely taught me some new lessons ...or reminded me of what was important,” said Jihoon Choi, previous president and current member of OC’s Sunnyridge chapter. Choi has been regularly participating in the Orange County sandwich making event for the past four years.

The members of the Orange County district look forward to continuing the sandwich making project for years to come.

Written by Celine Park

(Sunnyridge, OC)