On a recent Sunday morning, Nick Bobay and Leo Baumann, best friends since kindergarten, stood around the dining room table at Bobay’s house and packed brown bag lunches for clients at Catholic Charities in Des Plaines.

Now juniors in high school, Bobay and Baumann have been making lunches for people in need since their days at Holy Cross School in Deerfield and later at St. Mary School in Lake Forest.

The “Sandwich Squad” was started by their friend Perry Harig in 2019, when Harig was an eighth grader at Holy Cross.

Harig recruited Bobay and Baumann, among others, to pack lunches and asked Bobay to take the effort over during the school year when he was away at high school. Bobay and Baumann took it over completely when Harig went to college.

Before COVID-19, more of their friends helped, but the effort was scaled down during the pandemic, Bobay said. It has just been the two of them since 2021.

Each of the 60 lunches includes ham and cheese sandwiches, chips, juice, a snack and dessert.

“We need a bit more lunches,” Bobay said. “The hope is to double that.”

They also want to recruit new volunteers.

“The main goal of Sandwich Squad now is to build it up from just the two of us to more kids in the area,” Bobay said.

When they actually pack lunches varies depending on their busy schedules. Bobay is involved in theater and other activities at Loyola Academy and Baumann plays several sports at North Shore Country Day School.

In January of this year, the two went to Catholic Charities to distribute the lunches during a drive-through food pantry.

“It made it a lot more personal,” Baumann said. “We ran out. The amount of lunches that is needed is so high — that’s why we want to double from 60, because we want to feed everybody.”

Bobay agreed.

“I think that trip to Catholic Charities was another big turning point in Sandwich Squad. It gave a face to the people we were helping,” he said.

Meeting the people they pack the lunches for made Bobay and Baumann realize how blessed they are.

“I’ve never had to wonder where the next meal is going to come from. It’s scary to think about the people who have to worry about where their next meal will come from,” Baumann said. “I’ve always had an understanding for people who haven’t had as much of the opportunities that I have.”

“It’s been something that we’ve done that we can look back upon and be proud of,” Bobay said. “I really think we are trying to do the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people and that is something we can be proud of.”

Both Baumann and Bobay said the monthly packing sessions have strengthened their friendship. The effort keeps them close as they attend different schools.

“It’s also just been a really fun time and it gives me a way to express how much I care or how much I want to help,” Baumann added.

Harig, now a junior at Illinois State University, said he is happy that Bobay and Baumann have carried on Sandwich Squad.

“I’m very impressed with how much they’ve been able to do and how they’ve kept it going. But also, I’m amazingly happy that it stayed going,” Harig said. “The project is kind of like my baby, you know?”

He got the idea to start the Sandwich Squad while volunteering at dinners served at Catholic Charities in Des Plaines.

Harig enjoys cooking, so packing lunches connected with him. When he returned to the Sandwich Squad for summers while he attended Culver Academy in Indiana, he mowed lawns and walked dogs to raise the money to buy food and supplies.

“After doing, that I realized how hard it was to afford healthy groceries. That was a big learning experience for me,” he said.

Before volunteering at the dinners during elementary school, Perry thought he understood what it meant to be homeless and hungry.

“But when I got to the dinners, it wasn’t that. It was just people struggling to make ends meet through a rough time,” he said. “That was the biggest learning experience the whole time I was running this project. That’s what really helped me want to continue working to get the groceries and to continue the Sandwich Squad. People need help, but it’s not like they are doing nothing.”