In the dim Robinson Hall, light shone from room 305 where the Health and Wellness Careers Club (HAWCC) assembled 206 PB&Js in 25 minutes. On Sept. 30, HAWCC ended the month with their semester kickoff service project, making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the Cathedral Kitchen.

Two dozen Rowan students arrived 10 minutes early, each with grocery bags filled with peanut butter, jelly, bread, and Ziploc bags. Quickly the students sat at six tables and began their icebreakers.

President of HAWCC, Leah Crilly, 21, a nutrition and dietetics major, first pitched the idea two years ago, when she was the club’s fundraising chair.

“I went and participated in another club’s [PB&J] event and saw they got a really good turnout. So I brought [the event idea] to my club, and now people always look forward to it,” said Crilly. “I like getting to meet new people that come, but I also like to watch people make new friends.”

Crilly drops off all the sandwiches at Cathedral Kitchen in Camden after each event, always shooting for the kitchen’s limit of 250. She calls them “easygoing” and “appreciative” for everything she always brings. Cathedral Kitchen is a Camden project that provides over 100,000 meals a year to locally food-insecure people.

Each student sanitized their hands, put on purple latex gloves, and began the assembly production, cracking lids and peeling seals. One student applied the peanut butter, another student applied the jam, and the last put them in baggies.

Alyssa Romano, 22, is a nutrition major and it was her first HAWCC event.

”Bella [HAWCC service project chair] was telling me about the [PB&J] event. It gets us a professional development hours [PDH], but I also wanted to get more involved on campus. It’s my first semester here,” said Romano. “I’m not really super involved yet, but I really want to be, that’s why I’m here.”

Some majors at Rowan require 20 professional development hours in order to graduate, and this event provided one for participation and an extra for supplying the ingredients for the
PB&Js.

It was also Jeffery Dolt’s, 30, a nutrition major’s first time at an HAWCC event. Dolt came for the PDH points but gained a bonus as well.

“[The event] is great, I’d recommend it. I think it’s a great way to meet people too, which is nice, whether it’s within your major or not,” said Dolt.

The production kept pace until the jelly ran dry.

“The items are a challenge,” said Isabella Capelli, a nutrition major and HAWCC service project chair. “Some people just can’t end up making it or we have really big numbers, so we run out of jelly, but we make peanut butter sandwiches instead. There’s still something, and that’s what matters.”

The event wrapped up with club housekeeping, sandwich collection, and table cleaning.

Each student left with one or two more PDHs and plenty of lively chit-chat. HAWCC has approximately 15 events a semester with many of them being service projects and are currently fundraising for their annual trip. HAWCC posts about all upcoming events on their Instagram, @rowan.hawcc.

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