Thirteen exuberant students made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and packed bags with cookies, juice, chips, and water in Stephen Adubato’s religion classroom after school, Feb. 15.

But the food was not for them. They planned to distribute the food to homeless people hanging around Penn Station.

The effort was part of Mr. Adubato and the Gray Bee Ministry’s “Jesus Run,” which Mr. Adubato described as a small way to address the throwaway culture in today’s world.

“The trip was bigger than just giving out food,” Mr. Adubato said. “It was to expose our youth to a different situation and show them that they could help the people out there even if it’s by just speaking to them and showing them respect.”

Before leaving on the run, students discussed throw away culture–the way many people take advantage of the good things they have such as food, and forget what others do not have and need. Giving out the food to the homeless is just a small part of the much bigger issue of the throwaway culture, Mr. Adubato said.

Each student carried two bags of food down to Penn Station. Upon arriving, Mr. Adubato set out a meetup spot and the students were released in groups of three to personally distribute the food.

Mr. Adubato encouraged students to shake the people’s hands and start a conversation with them. At first, the students were hesitant but after they did it the first time they seemed to enjoy it.

“Rather than tossing food at them so that we could feel good about ourselves, we tried to encounter them as human beings by starting a simple conversation,” Mr. Adubato said.

Students learned many things during the trip but the most important thing Mr. Adubato wanted the students to take from all of this was that the people are what makes the community and vice versa.

“The purpose of the Jesus Run is not so much to serve the community but rather to encounter people in the community. We often look at those who are materially poor as somehow inferior to ‘normal’ people who have adequate food and shelter,” Mr. Adubato said. “It’s easy to walk past a homeless person and forget the fact that they are a human being with a name and a story.”