Friends Bridget Quigley and Danny Amrhein formed Cinna-Mission, which brings together community members to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and snack bags for the needy.
The Cinnaminson Community Center gets a little loud each month with friendly chatter as members of the community come together to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and snack bags for those in need.
At the helm are Bridget Quigley and Danny Amrhein.
“Danny and I are just friends that have done volunteer work together in the past,” Quigley said. “We actually came here for a sandwich-making night probably a year-and-a-half ago and we kind of said, ‘Why are we not doing this ourselves?'”
And when organizers of that sandwich-making night stopped, Quigley and Amrhein carried on and dubbed their effort Cinna-Mission. Nine months out of the year, they come together.
“We both have kids that are young and are very involved in a lot of things, sports and activities,” Quigley explained. “We wanted them to still realize the importance of making time to volunteer. By hosting this event, it’s easy to get to, it’s safe and right in town.”
Each month, Quigley posts an informal Sign Up Genius on the Cinna-Mission social media page for those interested in volunteering; donating money; and providing items such as loaves of bread, peanut butter, jelly, butter knives and snack items.
“It kind of just started off with most of our friends and our friend’s kids,” Quigley recalled. “It’s mostly adults and pre-teens. Sometimes teams will come.”
Since February 2024, Cinna-Mission has helped 4,700 families with donations to the Cathedral Kitchen in Camden and, most recently, The Everywhere Project, a Philadelphia based organization that expands the reach of harm-reduction resources like food and clothing; clean syringes; and naloxone and overdose reversal training, according to its website.
Through the project, Amrhein took Cinna-Missions peanut butter and jelly sandwiches last month to an outreach night at LOVE Park in Philadelpia.
“I grew up in that area,” he noted, and where (these sandwiches) are going, they need it badly.”
Around Christmas last year, Cinna-Mission joined the charity Christmas Babies to make 120 stockings for victims of domestic violence in Philadelphia.
For Quigley and Amrhein, the monthly effort is the least they can do.
“It’s leading by example,” Amrhein said, “the simple stuff.”
