Johns Creek lacrosse players make 500 sandwiches for hungry Atlantans

More than 500 sandwiches were packed by Johns Creek High School boys lacrosse players, who swapped sticks for gloves and hairnets to help people facing food insecurity across Metro Atlanta.

Varsity and junior varsity players took part in the effort on April 1, working with The Sandwich Project, a nonprofit that organizes sandwich-making events to support hunger relief. Johns Creek Athletics said the players were given information before the assembly about the nonprofit and local food insecurity statistics, putting the service project in a wider context before the first sandwich was made.

The supplies and food came from Publix Charities and from the families of the lacrosse players. Johns Creek Athletics described the effort as a team-bonding event, but the impact reached far beyond the locker room. The sandwiches were assembled for an organization that delivers fresh, homemade meals to outreach groups, shelters and food pantries across the region.

The Sandwich Project says it is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit that launched in April 2020 in response to pandemic-driven food insecurity. Since then, it says it has delivered more than 2 million sandwiches across Metro Atlanta, distributing about 8,000 each week through a network of more than 4,000 volunteers. The group says it works with more than 70 partner organizations, operates 34 collection sites and serves 27 communities as it continues to expand.

The scale of that work shows why a school-based project like Johns Creek’s matters. A single afternoon of assembly produced hundreds of meals, but it also connected teenagers to a recurring need that is easy to miss in a prosperous metro area. Student volunteers can fill part of that gap quickly, visibly and in a way that other schools and clubs could replicate.

The Johns Creek program has stepped into civic life before. In 2017, Johns Creek boys lacrosse players also took part in the Will to Live 5K walk, underscoring a longer pattern of service beyond the field.