More Than a Sandwich: URI Student Builds Community One Sunday at a Time
Warwick’s Lucas Johnson hopes to expand Sandwich Party Sunday into a year-round program serving people experiencing homelessness.
A peanut butter and jelly sandwich meets an immediate need. Lucas Johnson hopes the opportunity to help make and share one can offer something more—a sense of belonging.
The Warwick resident and University of Rhode Island junior founded Sandwich Party Sunday three years ago to provide meals to people experiencing homelessness. Along with receiving food, participants are encouraged to join volunteers in preparing and distributing it.
“We don’t want people to only receive help, we want them to have opportunities to contribute to the community and their own well-being,” Johnson said. “Helping us prepare or distribute meals creates a sense of belonging, responsibility, purpose, and confidence. We want to create a pathway for people to go from surviving to thriving.”
For its first two years, the nonprofit assembled bagged lunches at Roger Williams Park and delivered them to Kennedy Plaza in downtown Providence. This summer, the group operated from Mathewson Street Church in Providence, distributing 130 to 170 sandwiches each Sunday—an increase of roughly 50 to 60 percent over last year.
Word of mouth and growing need have brought more people to the program. Donations, including $5,000 from Navigant Credit Union in May, have helped cover expenses.
As the organization grew, Johnson also sought guidance on how to sustain it. He found support through URI faculty, classmates and business mentors.
An online summer communications course connected him with Crystal Fonseca Greene, an associate teaching professor in URI’s Harrington School of Communications and Media. After learning about Sandwich Party Sunday, Greene made the nonprofit part of the class’s work.
“Once Professor Greene learned what I was doing with Sandwich Party Sunday, she was a tremendous help,” Johnson said. “She had the entire class work on different components of the nonprofit. She even showed up on a couple of Sundays to help.”
A classmate suggested he contact Keith Ranaldi, director of innovation and entrepreneurship at the URI Library’s Innovation Labs. Since mid-June, the two have met each Thursday to discuss the organization’s mission and future.
Sandwich Party Sunday is making an impact in downtown Providence. The nonprofit distributed 130-170 sandwiches each Sunday this summer, with many of the recipients also serving as volunteers.
URI student Lucas Johnson shows off one of the T-shirts that are worn by volunteers of Sandwich Party Sunday, the nonprofit he formed to feed and uplift unhoused individuals.
“What’s impressed me the most about Lucas is that he is not approaching Sandwich Party Sunday simply as a food-distribution program,” Ranaldi said. “The sandwich is increasingly the point of entry—a reason for people to gather, interact, contribute, and begin building relationships.”
Their conversations have explored ways the program could offer education, creative activities, health and wellness information, and connections to services that help people gain greater stability.
Johnson, who transferred to URI after earning an associate’s degree in biology at the Community College of Rhode Island, is majoring in medicinal neuroscience. Ranaldi has encouraged him to consider how that education might inform the nonprofit’s work.
Possible future offerings include practical life skills, healthy cooking and shopping, creative writing, and opportunities for regular social interaction.
“I’m studying neuroscience to understand how the brain works and adapts,” Johnson said. “I plan to implement that knowledge in my work, because I believe our lower-income cities are in a drought of people pursuing their best lives, and I want to help solve that problem.”
Johnson also participated in URI’s RISE UP program this summer, receiving training and mentorship on turning ideas into workable programs. The experience helped him think more deliberately about understanding community needs, developing services and choosing partnerships.
Among his mentors was Joe Loberti, a URI alumnus and local entrepreneur who works with RISE UP and URI Innovations.
“As a non-profit, there are always connections to be made, but they can deviate you from your main mission,” Johnson said. “Joe made sure I made partnerships intentionally, not just for the sake of making partnerships.”
With additional volunteers, financial support and community partners, Johnson hopes to make Sandwich Party Sunday a year-round operation.
“I want to help people find their greatest pursuit of happiness and become the best version of themselves,” he said.
Learn more at Sandwich Party Sunday.
Photo, top: Lucas Johnson, a medicinal neuroscience student at the University of Rhode Island, created and manages the nonprofit Sandwich Party Sunday, which provides unhoused individuals with food and a sense of purpose. (URI photos/Seth Jacobson)
Dining and Cooking