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\u201cWe don’t want people to only receive help, we want them to have opportunities to contribute to the community and their own well-being,\u201d said Johnson, who is a junior majoring in medicinal neuroscience<\/a> at the University of Rhode Island. \u201cHelping us prepare or distribute meals creates a sense of belonging, responsibility, purpose, and confidence. We want to create a pathway for people to go from surviving to thriving.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the first two years of Sandwich Party Sunday, Johnson and his team of volunteers put together bags of lunches at Roger Williams Park and delivered them to the homeless at Kennedy Plaza in downtown Providence. This summer, the group was based at the Mathewson Street Church in Providence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Due to word of mouth and a growing need, volunteers distributed 130-170 sandwiches each Sunday this summer, an increase of 50-60% over last year. Donations, such as the $5,000 Navigant Credit Union gave in May, has helped cover expenses, but Johnson needed more than financial support\u2014he needed guidance on how to strengthen and grow his program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Helpful URI connections<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n Johnson took an online communications course this summer instructed by Crystal Fonseca Greene, associate teaching professor in URI\u2019s Harrington School of Communications and Media<\/a>. The course benefited his nonprofit in ways he couldn\u2019t have predicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOnce Professor Greene learned what I was doing with Sandwich Party Sunday, she was a tremendous help,\u201d said Johnson, who transferred to URI after completing an associate\u2019s degree in biology from CCRI. \u201cShe had the entire class work on different components of the nonprofit. She even showed up on a couple of Sundays to help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A classmate recommended to Johnson that he also reach out to Keith Ranaldi, director of innovation and entrepreneurship at the URI Library\u2019s Innovation Labs<\/a>. After connecting with Ranaldi in the middle of June, Johnson\u2019s been meeting with him for advice every Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKeith helps me define and drive my mission, and he\u2019s connected me to other URI resources,\u201d said Johnson, who is from Warwick. \u201cI am forever grateful for Keith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat\u2019s impressed me the most about Lucas is that he is not approaching Sandwich Party Sunday simply as a food-distribution program,\u201d said Ranaldi. \u201cThe sandwich is increasingly the point of entry\u2014a reason for people to gather, interact, contribute, and begin building relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of the conversations with Ranaldi have focused on the culture Johnson is creating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLucas is meeting people where they are\u2014addressing immediate needs while also creating opportunities for education, personal development, creative expression, health and wellness, and connection to systems that may help them move toward greater stability,\u201d said Ranaldi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ranaldi has also encouraged Johnson to apply what he is learning about neuroscience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe talked about how he might thoughtfully translate research around human development, social connection, nutrition, behavior, motivation, and well-being into accessible experiences for people who may not ordinarily have exposure to those ideas,\u201d said Ranaldi. \u201cThat could be through practical life-skills education, healthy cooking and shopping, creative-writing or poetry, health-related programming, or creating consistent opportunities for positive social interaction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Translating his classroom learning into his nonprofit work gets to the heart of what Johnson is doing and why. \u201cI\u2019m studying neuroscience to understand how the brain works and adapts. I plan to implement that knowledge in my work, because I believe our lower-income cities are in a drought of people pursuing their best lives, and I want to help solve that problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Entrepreneurial thinking<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Another meaningful resource Johnson took advantage of this summer was URI\u2019s RISE UP program<\/a>, which provides training and mentorship to help people turn innovative ideas into real-world solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe RISE UP program challenged me to think in ways I never thought before, while instilling an entrepreneurial mindset into my daily practices and the mission of my nonprofit,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cI discovered that the processes for a non-profit aren’t much different than they are for companies, besides revenue streams and the channels through which the program is implemented. The process of customer discovery and researching the problem to develop the solution is really the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/news\/sites\/16\/2026\/09\/SAJ1275-1024x980.jpeg\")