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Community Corner

How Orono Scouts are Helping Feed Minnesota's Homeless

Each year, with the help of corporate sponsors and volunteers, The Sandwich Project donates 300,000 sandwiches to local homeless shelters.

More than 80 scouts from Orono Boy Scout Pack 206 participated in a community service project Tuesday night and packed 2,500 sandwiches to benefit The Sandwich Project of Minnesota.

The scouts learned about those in need as they gathered in the Orono Intermediate School cafeteria to assemble and pack bologna and cheese sandwiches.

Tony Zosel, founder of The Sandwich Project, spoke to the scouts and their families about how his organization came to be and its impact in helping the homeless. He said he came up with the idea after learning that one of his teachers was collecting sandwiches from Holiday stores to donate to a homeless shelter downtown.

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He told his teacher he thought that people would donate their time to make the sandwiches and the idea was born. Their initial goal was to feed 150 homeless people in Minneapolis. Today, they feed about 4,500 people each week by delivering sandwiches to homeless shelters and food shelves. 

“This was just an average group of guys and a couple of Bible studies that decided to do this,” said Zosel.

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Zosel encouraged anyone with a good idea to give it a try. He gave the example of a 4-year-old girl named Alex Scott from Philadelphia who was diagnosed with cancer. She started a lemonade stand in her yard to raise money for cancer.

After her lemonade stand received publicity, more and more people gave money to the effort. To date, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation has raised $55 million dollars toward the effort of curing childhood cancer.

“It doesn’t matter how old you are to have a big idea,” said Zosel. “One simple thing can grow out of control into greatness.”

Each year, with the help of corporate sponsors and volunteers, The Sandwich Project donates 300,000 sandwiches to local homeless shelters. For more information about The Sandwich Project, visit www.thesandwichprojectmn.org

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