A new program led by Neged Ra’av, a student group affiliated with Stanford Hillel, aims to show people that helping the homeless can be as simple as making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

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Anna Galan

Students work to prepare sandwiches for the homeless through the student-organized PB-JAM program, in which University dorms agree to have their residents make 100 to 150 sandwiches and then drop the food off at the Palo Alto Drop-In Center.

As part of the program, called “PB-Jam,” dorms agree to make 100 to 150 peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunches for the Palo Alto Drop-In Center, where unemployed, homeless and hungry clients come to get a meal.

Neged Ra’av, which focuses its efforts on homelessness and community service, finds students who are willing to organize the event in their dorms and then funds the project. Neged Ra’av covers the costs of $60 to $75 per event for the sandwiches, raisins and cookies that go into each lunch.

“PB-Jams are a way to get people involved in community service by making it easy for them,” said senior Morris Cohen, co-president of Neged Ra’av. “The events are a great success, especially in the freshman dorms where there is a very social atmosphere. People don’t just sit there and make sandwiches; it’s a social event as well — at Otero last week, they were singing Disney songs during the PB-Jam.”

So far, Cedro, Potter, Junipero, Otero and Kairos have held the events, and Slavianskii Dom, EAST and Trancos are scheduled to hold PB-Jams in the coming weeks. Dorms have learned of the program through word of mouth and announcements from resident assistants.

“It seemed like a good way to help people in need and not very difficult or time consuming,” said freshman Aaron Sunshine, who organized a PB-Jam in Otero. “I thought, ‘How can I refuse to spend a few hours of my time to help give a little to people who have nothing when I have so much?’ ”

The Sigma Nu fraternity has also become involved with the program. They held a PB-Jam before their annual Sunsplash party in the beginning of the quarter as a way to integrate community service into the event.

“It was very fun and really popular,” said event organizer Michael Scrafford, a junior. “It gave us the opportunity to show that we’re not only about parties.”

He added, “We want to try doing it again.”

Neged Ra’av tried to make the lunches themselves in the winter, but “it turned out to be a lot of time and effort for us to go out, buy the food, publicize and run the event every week,” Cohen said.

The current program works well for the group because they have been able to expand their reach without a significant time commitment, organizers said. Each dorm’s event organizer buys the food and coordinates making the lunches, while Neged Ra’av representatives pick up the lunches and deliver them to the Palo Alto Drop-In Center the next morning.

“The goal is to teach people how easy and fun it can be to do community service,” Cohen said. “I see no reason why the PB-Jams can’t — if they get encouraged for a few years — become a Stanford dorm tradition, just like the scavenger hunt, assassins, ski trip, etc.”

Sunshine considered the project to be a success in his dorm.

“I was very pleased with the outcome,” he said. “We had a great turnout and finished faster than I thought we would. People seemed to enjoy themselves, and we prepared over a hundred meals. I look forward to doing this again, if possible.”