In Cherry Hill, PB&J sandwiches for fugitives

For a few hours Sunday, they agreed to miss the Flyers playoff game and held off on those "Honey-do" lists of household chores.

Instead, the South Jersey Men's Club made nearly 400 peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches for a group of eaters they'll never meet - men and women with outstanding bench warrants for alleged nonviolent offenses.

The sandwiches were just one slice of the rewards for hundreds of wanted people expected to turn themselves in over the next few days at an Atlantic City church as part of New Jersey's Fugitive Safe Surrender program. While the program does not offer amnesty, it does offer a way to get cases resolved quickly, often without jail time.

More than 400 people wanted on charges such as disorderly conduct and failing to pay child support came forward Saturday, the first day of the four-day program at Grace Assembly of God Church.

Meanwhile, in Cherry Hill Sunday, Bob Greenberg, immediate past president of the men's club, a service organization that supports a variety of community and Jewish groups, stood in front of a long table inside the Betty and Milton Katz Jewish Community Center.

On each side of the table, three to four club members jabbed knives into jars of peanut butter and then smeared the brown spread on slices of white bread.

Next came the jelly. At the end of the day, 34 loaves of bread had been used.

"This is not neat work," Greenberg said, referring to the globs of jelly on the table that had missed the bread.

At the end of the table, wives of two of the members neatly tucked the sandwiches into plastic bags.

A representative from the U.S. Marshals Service picked up their tasty work Sunday afternoon.

The men's club has made more than 4,000 sandwiches for the state's three "Safe Surrender" programs, which started in 2008. The group plans to make nearly 400 more Monday and Tuesday.

All the ingredients were donated by local businesses.

Why peanut butter over, say, ham and cheese?

"Everybody loves it. It's easily donated," said Ed Silver, 70, a social worker with a mental-health practice in Medford.

He said he hoped to get a local business in the next day or so to donate some pastries as well.

It was swift work Sunday. An hour into the conveyor-style operation, the group had made 250 sandwiches. Only a few were lost to temptation.

Greenberg's wife, Marlene, said she couldn't resist a much-needed fix of white bread.

"There is nothing like peanut butter and jelly on white bread," she said, noting that she only keeps wheat bread at home because of its nutritional value.

The "Safe Surrender" program is being staged from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day, with cases being adjudicated at temporary courtrooms a few blocks from Grace Assembly of God.

The U.S. Marshals Service started the program in 2005 in Cleveland, Ohio, after a city police officer was murdered trying to capture a fugitive with an outstanding warrant for a non-violent offense.

In New Jersey, more than 10,000 fugitives have surrendered since 2008

The program is led by the state Attorney General's Office and funded by the U.S. Department of Justice. The effort involves state, local and county agencies in several South Jersey counties.

For members of the South Jersey Men's Club, their part is all about community service and charity - two tenants of the Jewish tradition.

"It's a good feeling to give. It's fulfilling," said Silver. "It helps to balance out the trials and tribulations of life.