All Africa Service Project Mobilizes African Mormons

Europeans and Americans are used to seeing newspaper photographs of humanitarian aid workers in Africa.  The workers are invariably white, and from developed, “first world” countries, trying to lend a hand to poorer Africans.  The photographs are different, however in an article on Vanguardngr.com, a Nigerian paper reporting a major cleanup effort in Lagos, Nigeria.

Nigerian members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mobilized in Lagos to clean up Ikeja General Hospital, especially clearing drains that were breeding grounds for mosquitos.  Church members were clad in the recognizable yellow aprons bearing the logo “Mormon Helping Hands.”  The aprons are the same that were apparent at the hurrican Katrina service sites in the U.S. 

Male members of the Church sand filled some failed sections of the hospital road while the females swept the hospital premises and also cleared the garbage at the back of Ayinke ward.  Mormon children also participated.  The exercise also took place in places like Ifako Health Centre, General Hospital, Ogba, Ikoyi Prison, Agege General Hospital, Ajuwon Community Health Center, Ikorodu General Hospital, Surulere Local Government Premises, Onilegogoro Bus-stop, among others.

The same sort of service was taking place all over Africa as part of the project sponsored by the Church.  

“A Ghanaian, Richard K. Ahadjie, said of the exercise: ‘I came for a leadership training meeting yesterday and I was supposed to leave for Accra this morning. I know the project is for all Africans and if I decided to leave this morning, I shall miss this project back home in Accra. So I decided to stay in Nigeria for the three hours exercise.  This exercise has been able to portray Christ’s attitude on cleanliness.’”

“Chairman, National Public Affairs Council in Nigeria, Elder Alexander Odume told Vanguard Metro, ‘We feel great for doing such a thing. Mormons means good; we are here to render service because we believe in service for humanity. This is our own contribution to assist our fellow human beings who need the service more. We have been able to fill some parts of the road with laterite; we have trash bags and we are partnering with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA who will come and evacuate the rubbish as soon as we are through with what we are doing.  Unit leaders of the Church have identified projects that would address the needs of the areas the church is located where members would render service. In some of the projects, we are partnering with organisations, other churches and leaders of other faiths to serve Nigerians.’ 

There are over 88,000 members of the Church in Nigeria.  The aim of the service project is to “sweep the street, clear the drains, paint and mark roads, clean markets and other public places, including hospitals, health centres, police stations, old people’s home, motherless babies homes, among others,” said Elder Odume.

See the full article at Vanguard Metro Nigeria.

Local Mormons Provide Food Relief in Florida

Rik Jesse, Florida Today

On June 25, 2009, Florida Today.com, in an article by John A. Torres, reported the following:

Starting today, hungry families struggling to provide can go to the nearest Catholic Church for a week’s supply of food.

More than 12,000 pounds of food collected and donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was picked up Wednesday by volunteers with Catholic Charities of Central Florida.  The partnership is expected to ease the economic crunch for struggling families for the next three weeks.  The food is available for anyone, regardless of faith.

It’s the first time an LDS Stake has connected with the local Catholic Church to work on this type of project.  There are a large number of Catholic Churches in Brevard County that can serve as distribution centers.  The project follows a successful fund-raising campaign called Project Hunger, aimed at providing food for the poor during the summer months.  Donations are typically lower during the summer than during the winter holiday season, so it’s difficult to keep food banks stocked.  This recent donation will help provide needed food until the Project Hunger funds are allocated.  Funding for the effort was provided by donations from Latter-day Saints (Mormons) throughout Central Florida.

To read the full article, click here.

Massive Service Day Benefits Thousands

SALT LAKE CITY 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). Read more

Mormon Youth Surprise Family with Home-Makeover

On one occasion, a group of North Ogden Youth, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) decided to replace their annual weekend conference with a week long service project. Foregoing the dances, spiritual talks, sporting activities, and other normally-planned activities of a conference, forty youth decided to renovate a home in their Ogden neighborhood. Read more