SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Thursdays at the Syracuse University Catholic Center are better known as “Community Night.” The gathering typically involves a weekly mass and dinner, but it turns into something much bigger on the last Thursday of each month. The community stays for the “Sandwich Ministry,” pitching in to supply meals for those in need.
Students and community members prepare and pack sandwiches that are delivered to Assumption Church’s food pantry on Syracuse’s North Side. To start off 2026 and a new semester, the group produced over 700 bologna and cheese sandwiches in under 20 minutes.
“A little bit can go a long way,” said Patrick McLaughlin, the campus minister at the Catholic Center. “A half hour of work once a month with enough people can really transform lives and make a true difference.”
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Tommy Armstrong: Thursday nights at the Syracuse Catholic Center are better known as community night.
It’s a time for gathering, where members of the campus community are welcome to come together for mass and a meal to follow.
Will Waghorne: There’s honestly something in it for everyone. I’ve had friends who aren’t even Catholic sometimes come by for community night just because it’s a great experience to be here with people.
Armstrong: Voices echo through the chapel as people pack into the pews, then fill the hall for dinner.
But on the last Thursday of every month, this space changes. Once people have their meal in the dining room, the tables turn and become workstations.
This group that came together to eat switches roles to feed others.
Noah Jackson: I think it’s important to give back to the community, honestly. Yeah, it’s something that is a core tenet of Catholicism as a whole is to be able to help the people who are in need.
Armstrong: It’s called the Sandwich Making Ministry, a monthly effort to prepare meals delivered to Assumption Church’s food pantry. It’s an important outreach and mission instilled by Chaplain Father Gerry.
Father Gerry Waterman: Faith without service is meaningless. So yes, we do feed them sacramentally with Jesus every week, but on the last Thursday of the month, I ask them to pay it forward and feed the hungry.
Armstrong: Volunteers form an assembly line, turning conversation into teamwork. Boxes of bologna and cheese sandwiches packed up and ready to go.
Patrick McLaughin: A little bit really does go a long way, and an hour of work once a month with enough people can really transform lives.
Armstrong: 728 sandwiches in just 17 minutes. They’d call that a success. In Syracuse, Tommy Armstrong, NCC News.
According to the Food Bank of Central New York, the food insecurity rate is 10.3% of the population across the 11 regions.
While providing for those in need, the center’s Chaplain Father Gerry Waterman describes that the event provides for what the Catholic Center stands for.
“Faith without service is meaningless,” said Father Gerry. “I have built this into our program. We feed them sacramentally with Jesus every week. But on the last Thursday of the month, I ask them to pay it forward and feed the hungry because that feeds us spiritually.”
This tradition has been long going, started by the Franciscans over a decade ago. Each year brings a different crowd to participate and impacts each individual.
“I know I’m doing a good thing. There’s something in it for everyone,” said Will Waghorne, a current senior at Syracuse University.
Helping organize the ministry each month is Ministry Co-chair Noah Jackson, who says the work reflects a deeper purpose.
“It’s important to give back to the community. That’s something that is a core tenet of Catholicism, to be able to help the people who are in need. That’s really how you sow the seeds of being a good human,” said Noah Jackson, the Ministry Co-chair.
All of the ingredients are donated to the Catholic Center. Volunteers gather around long tables to stack bread, layer slices of bologna and cheese, then bag and package the sandwiches in ready-to-go boxes. By Friday morning, the sandwiches are then transferred to the pantry by Father Gerry with the help of some students.
“This is one thing we consider to be absolutely essential to our religious practice, having some ministry to the poor,” said McLaughlin. “It’s important to remember the less fortunate and who are most in need. We see it as genuinely a way to live out the principles of our faith.”
The night blends faith, friendship, and purpose.
“I can’t really imagine having such a vibrant community without some kind of outreach and ministry,” said McLaughlin.
The first Sandwich Ministry of the year sets the tone for the months ahead, reminding students their sense of community does not stop at campus borders.
“That’s really what it’s all about, it’s the community,” said Jackson.