Massive Service Day Benefits Thousands
June 8, 2009 by admin
Filed under Mormons Serving Local Communities
27 April 2009
From coast to coast, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints joined hands with friends and neighbors to clean up and serve their communities in a far-reaching day of service. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers stocked shelves, constructed houses and helped families in transition get their feet back on the ground.
“Helping others is valuable to the person being served but may be of even more importance to the person serving because it causes him or her to forget their own problems for just a few minutes and experience the joy of service,” said Elder Walter F. González, who oversaw volunteer efforts by the Church in the southeast area of the United States.
In Southern California Mormons staged an organized event that summoned some 40,000 volunteers to carry out service projects throughout all of Southern California, including 11 Orange County cities. Although service is a core value in the Mormon belief system, this is the first time members of its congregations have united statewide on the same day in such a uniform fashion. Projects included cleaning parks in Cypress, building a park in Fullerton, donating food to the Orange County Food Bank in Huntington Beach, informing residents about proper smoke detectors in Tustin and more. Though the movement was organized by Mormon congregations, non-church volunteers were encouraged to participate (Orange County Register).
In Alabama church members in Gadsden, Anniston and Oxford assisted the Gadsden-Etowah Habitat for Humanity with houses in Adams Park Saturday as part of the Helping Hands and Linking Arms Day of Service. About 100,000 people in 11 Southeastern states from Louisiana to Georgia and from Kentucky to Florida are participating in the service day.
According to the mission statement, the Day of Service is to link arms with churches, civic organizations and government agencies to strengthen local communities with meaningful service projects that will beautify communities, build friendships, help those in need and bolster the spirits of all.
“We’re very grateful to the Mormon community for being here,” said Steve Scharfenberg, president of the Gadsden-Etowah Habitat for Humanity. “They came with a lot of skill, a lot of tools and a lot of enthusiasm. We thank them for all of their support. We’ve accomplished a lot today” (The Gadsden Times, April 25, 2009).
In North Carolina the Washington Branch elected to participate in a restoration project for the Old Bath High School that is under construction. Thirty six local members were on hand to scrape, paint, clean and move objects for a total of 180 man-hours. Marty Buchanan, a member of The Bath High School Preservation Corporation was amazed at the turn out and expressed her heart felt appreciation for their help.
Service projects are not a new thing for the LDS Church. They have participated in major cleanup projects after major storms like Katrina and other disasters but this is the first time the Church has timed a massive service project like this in the United States. Someone asked, “Why are you doing this?” The answer is “Service is what we do”. It was the message of the Scriptures. “What ye do unto one of the least of these my brethren, you do it unto me” (Beaufort Observer, April 25, 2009).