‘Magic is quantifiable’

CommUNITY SJP will host their annual Back to School Festival at the Laurel House in Mount Laurel on Saturday, Sept. 12, from 2 to 6 p.m. The event is free to attend, but guests are advised to register ahead.

“We started CommUNITY SJP [in 2016] because a lot of us were disheartened by how things were in the country in terms of how divided people were along socio-economic lines, racial lines… It was a contentious presidential year, too, with the election. Instead of lamenting about it, we decided to do something about it,” said co-founding board member Fozia Janjua.

CommUNITY SJP is a nonprofit that seeks to promote civic engagement and greater cross-cultural understanding through community service and social events in the South Jersey-Philadelphia region. Their mission is to unite communities through service in the South Jersey-Philadelphia region by harnessing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.

“We had an idea of how we could get together and help our communities without any kind of red tape as well and really open it up so that people of all ages can come and help out,” said co-founding board member Medeeha Khan. “I think that’s what really caught people, that they could bring their kids to our events… It really makes them feel involved.”

The nonprofit is coming up on their 10th year. Since its inception, CommUNITY SJP has provided over a thousand meals to the hungry, made dozens of welcome bags for newly arrived refugees, assembled hundreds of hygiene kits and care packages for cancer patients, hospital patients, infants, migrant farm workers and more. Their work includes their Cakes4Kids program, a program that provides personalized birthday cupcakes, snacks and drinks to kindergarten and first grade students each month at Mastery McGraw Elementary School in Camden; providing 400-plus meals to the hungry on a bi-monthly basis; providing fleece blankets for the needy; providing toys, books and essentials to children; hosting wellness events and more. CommUNITY SJP has also developed partnerships with Artis Senior Living of Evesham; the Gloucester County Special Services School District; Oaks Integrated Care; and Providence House Domestic Violence Services of Catholic Charities, to name a few.

“We love that family approach, that generational approach,” said co-founding board member Hafeza Shaikh of the nonprofit’s gatherings. “Every event we have is a different composition of volunteers. The only similar tie between them is that they’re like-minded individuals that are interested in doing the same thing for the same purpose. When we get a bunch of people like that in a room magic happens, and magic sometimes is quantifiable.”

The Back to School Festival will include calligraphy, an escape room, a gel blaster, lawn games, a taste of some community service activities, a volleyball contest, vendors, a bake sale and more. In case of rain, the event will move indoors to the Mount Laurel Community House. Attendees are encouraged to bring a non-perishable item to be donated to a food pantry, and unexpired, packaged candy. New toy donations and new pairs of socks are also welcome. All CommUNITY SJP events are 100% volunteer driven. Guests are welcome to donate towards the items purchased for the back to school event.

“When I joined, my kids were younger and it was nice to see them participating and as they grew up, they kept coming back and continuing to participate and feel like they were doing something for the community,” said co-founding board member Shazia Ansari. “ … Even during COVID-19, we had a lot of people reaching out to us, seeing what they could do from home. We were still active during COVID-19, so people were making sandwiches at home, people were stuffing socks… I have pictures from when my kids were little, they’re in the living room and they have all these bags open and they’re filling them with fruit and sandwiches.”

For updates on the Back to School Festival or CommunUNITY SJP, visit www.communitysjp.org or the nonprofit’s social media.