March 16, 2026<\/p>\n
Members of the St. John\u2019s University<\/a> community joined employees from the global consulting firm Protiviti<\/a> on March 10 to package 3,500 meals for families facing food insecurity in the New York City area.<\/p>\n The effort was part of Manhattan, NY-based Protiviti\u2019s year-round \u201ci on Hunger<\/a>\u201d commitment to battling food insecurity\u2014locally and around the world. About 100 students volunteered for the event held in the Marillac Hall Terrace<\/a> and organized in partnership with St. John\u2019s Bread & Life<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sr. Caroline Tweedy, R.S.M. \u201922HON<\/a>, Executive Director, St. John\u2019s Bread & Life, thanked the volunteers for their efforts in support of Bread & Life and Vincent\u2019s Table<\/a>, the on-campus food pantry St. John\u2019s opened in\u00a0 December.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of people in need, a lot of people who are hungry,\u201d Sr. Caroline said. \u201cIt is obvious that Vincent\u2019s Table here on campus is helping to serve college students who are in need as well, and doing it in a dignified, compassionate way. That is because of people like you who take time out to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n Protiviti\u2019s i on Hunger effort dates back a decade. Together with its partners, the company has packed more than 16 million meals for needy people around the world.<\/p>\n \u201cFood insecurity is a year-round issue,\u201d said Joseph A. Tarantino \u201980CBA<\/a>, President and Chief Executive Officer, Protiviti, and member, St. John\u2019s Board of Trustees<\/a>. \u201cWe do events like this all year round, and around the world, not just in the United States.\u00a0Our connection to St. John\u2019s and to Bread & Life is strong.\u201d<\/p>\n University Career Services<\/a> coordinated the event in partnership with Protiviti, highlighting the company\u2019s longstanding relationship with the University and its support of student internship opportunities.<\/p>\n The Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P.<\/a>, President of St. John\u2019s, welcomed the volunteers and Protiviti employees, and emphasized the shared values that connect the University\u2019s mission<\/a> with the day\u2019s work.<\/p>\n \u201cAssist the poor, assist the poor\u2014that is the Vincentian charism and the imitation of Christ,\u201d Fr. Shanley said. \u201cWe assist the poor, and the most basic need that people have is to eat. Food insecurity is not an abstract problem out there somewhere in the world. I am grateful to the people who have stepped up\u2014the donors, staff, and everyone who has helped.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Student volunteers worked in assembly-line fashion at four stations, putting together bags of milk, fruit boxes, juice, cereal, and granola bars and depositing them into bins bound for the Bread & Life pantry in Brooklyn, NY. Volunteers had filled all available boxes by 3:30 p.m., about a half-hour before the event\u2019s scheduled conclusion.<\/p>\n Music played throughout the room as participants moved efficiently, working together to complete the packing effort.<\/p>\n \u201cThis event is a really great idea,\u201d said Gali Desir, a junior information technology<\/a> major. \u201cI love opportunities that give back to the community. This is my second, maybe third, time coming here, and I really enjoy it. It shows that St. John\u2019s cares about service and being involved in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n For Amelia Kasparyan, a first-year biology<\/a> student at St. John\u2019s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences<\/a>, the event was highly personal.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw how my parents had to juggle so many things, so it is really important for struggling families to know there are resources available,\u201d Amelia said.<\/p>\n For other students, the event reinforced the University\u2019s mission and values<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFood insecurity is such a major issue,\u201d said Marian Castillo, a junior double major in international management<\/a> and economics<\/a> at The Peter J. Tobin College of Business<\/a>. \u201cEvents like this really embody the St. John\u2019s spirit of service<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 16, 2026 Members of the St. John\u2019s University community joined employees from the global consulting firm Protiviti…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165213,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-165212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}