First Baptist Church of Moorestown will partner with Friendship Force International (FFI) of Southern New Jersey for an event Sunday to benefit the nonprofit Cathedral Kitchen in Camden.
Participants are encouraged to bring one loaf of bread, one jar of peanut butter and one jar of jelly and a box of Ziploc sandwich bags to help make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for those in need.
“We have to give back, even if it’s in a small way,” said Robbie Thornton-Peek, member of FFI and member of the leadership team at First Baptist. “I think a lot of us are very blessed to have a roof over our heads … but that’s a blessing.”
“As a part of that blessing, we need to help others who are compromised food-wise.”
According to friendshipforcesnj.org, FFI is a worldwide network of clubs (local chapters) and individuals that advance the mission of promoting global understanding across the barriers that separate people. That’s done by connecting people from different countries or U.S. regions at the personal level, with host families opening their homes to visitors of different cultural backgrounds.
Today, there are more than 15,000 active members on six continents in 60 countries making 300 journeys annually. Thornton-Peek has been a member of FFI for a little over 10 years and has helped set up clubs in countries including Greece, Australia and Turkey. She reminisced about joining FFI several years after taking a trip to Scotland in 2006.
“Fast forward about six years,” she said. “I get to hear about Friendship Force, and I’m lying at home about five months later with a fractured foot, losing my mind, and I remembered about Friendship Force. I looked it up, I joined it and it turns out I already knew the person who was the president.”
According to its website, Friendship Force International (FFI) of Southern New Jersey comprises the region across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. The nonprofit is focused on promoting understanding, cultural education and citizen diplomacy through home-stay journeys and personal friendships.
“Friendship Force allows you to make friends for the rest of your life,” Thornton-Peek explained. “If you hit it off well with someone, you make good friends with them.”
Sunday’s event at First Baptist starts at 2 p.m. For more information on FFI, visit https://archive.friendshipforce.org/clubs/southern-new-jersey/ or https://friendshipforcesnj.org.
“It makes you feel good when you do something for others,” Thornton-Peek pointed out. “You walk away feeling really wonderful that you’ve done something for someone else, that it’s not all about ‘me’ and all about the individual.”
“It’s for somebody else.”
