SALT LAKE CITY, UT – More than 180 members of the Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake volunteered for the inaugural Operation Brown Bag event at the Hellenic Memorial Cultural Center in Salt Lake City, UT.

The volunteers assembled sack lunches for those in needon April 29.Thomas Peters, president of the church, said the eventwas a success, as reported in Salt Lake City Weekly(SLCW). Parishioners from Holy Trinity Cathedral and Prophet Elias Church joined in the effort, as reported in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Modeled after the church’s feeding the homeless on Thanksgiving, Peters said, “the parish council sat down and we said, ‘These people are hungry and needy throughout the year. Can we do something more?’” as reported in SLCW. All ages participated in the event including everyone from toddler and up. Peters said, “The 90-year-olds were bagging the lunches and the 3- and 4-year-olds were putting together the napkins,” as quoted in SLCW.

The Crossroads Urban Center, Midvale’s Road Home shelter, Bountiful Homeless Shelter, City Plaza Apartments, YWCA, St. Vincent de Paul, The Inn Between, Volunteers of America, The Road Home shelter, Homeless Youth Center, and Hildegard’s Food Pantry were among the groups to receive the sack lunches prepared by the parishioners.

“We contacted them and said, ‘What can we do to alleviate your burden for a day or two and provide a lunch or a meal to the homeless and the hungry?’” Peters said.

He continued, “We did over 1,600 sandwiches to the St. Vincent de Paul center just by itself. We’ll do over 3,500 lunches total.”

Ham-and-cheese sandwiches with lettuce, cookies, chips, oranges, condiments,and napkins were packed with care by the volunteers. The church delivered the food to the service organizations and half the total lunches were on their way before noon.