Day of Service Activity

President Eyring's talk from General Conference reminded me I had these pictures on David's phone. At the end of July the Bishop asked me to put together an activity to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Church's Welfare Program. The ward council had the idea of doing a service fair meaning there would be lots of different projects going on so that all ages could participate. I just needed to come up with the projects and coordinate everything. I had a committee of two other couples and of course I roped David into helping me. I really enjoyed working on this activity because it gave me a chance to get to know a lot of people. Since I serve in nursery I don't see other adults on Sundays and haven't met a lot of people in the ward. So these were our projects: 

 We tied 3 quilts for the Women's Shelter. Grove Creek 7th ward Friends: That's Sis. Packard on the right.

 We assembled 120 school kits. This was the most time consuming of the projects. We asked the ward for donations for the supplies with was a logistically feat. My month of August was all about school supplies and the cheapest places to get them each week. We needed 720 spiral bound notebooks. I hope to never see a spiral bound notebook again. I assigned one sister to be in charge of this project and she was great. Especially because she found a group that meets each week to work on LDS Humanitarian projects and they made the bags for us. I was so glad I didn't have to find people to sew 120 bags. We were told the bags went to Korea through LDS Humanitarian. Grove Creek 7th ward Friends: Brother Packard is in this picture.

We asked the primary kids and youth to donate 20 cents to pay for supplies for a coloring book kits. These kits were given to the AF Hospital emergency room for patients and family members and included a coloring book and 6 crayons. Each 20 cents paid for one kit. We collected enough money to do 300 kits. At the activity the kids sorted and packaged the crayons into groups of 6 and also collated the coloring books and stapled them. These are my boys working on the crayons. See those ice cream cones. Matthew carried them around the entire activity and would not let them go. I didn't have time for a fight so I just let him do it and he acted like an angel. Mostly I think because he knew if he didn't I was going to take them away. Right next to this table I set up the port-a-crib and that's where Lucas hung out. He did get fussy and had to be passed around to all the cute grandmas so I could still get stuff done.

Next I borrowed an idea that we had done for a RS Enrichment meeting years ago in my old ward. I asked the ward members to make a wish of a project they could use help with and we would fulfill as many wishes as we could that day. When I presented this idea to ward council, they kind of had blank stares and told me that our ward didn't have welfare needs. I just stared back at then not knowing how to respond to that. Thankfully David stepped in and  suggested that even if we could physically or financially complete a project ourselves serving each other in the ward would create unity and love and give us an opportunity to serve and teach our children about service. Besides I didn't believe the "we have no welfare needs" line. So I made my little "Make a Wish" boxes and hoped for the best. After a few weeks....success! This is me trying to organize everyone to complete the wishes.

On wish was for have these mounded landscaped beds that had never been landscaped flatten out so cement could be laid. I found another house in the neighborhood that wanted the dirt. I think then men had way too much fun driving this 4 wheeler and little trailer back and forth between the homes.

At this house we sanded their play set so it could be restained. That little boy is in my nursery and that's his dad working behind him. I love this picture. This is what I wanted for the activity. Families serving together. Parents teaching children to help their neighbors.

Here's Matthew still with his ice cream cones. He won't look at me because he knows he's not supposed to have those ice cream cones. Matthew did a good job and following me around or going with David. David's job was to circulated between each house that had a wish going on and tell me if I needed more people or a piece of equipment and just give direction etc. He did a great job and I couldn't have done with activity without David.

At this house we installed with click together flooring. Luckily I had a ward member who's also a builder that knew what he was doing and took charge here. But this was a great example of a welfare wish. This couple was so grateful for our help. They are in their seventies and said over and over again that we saved them their knees. Another wish was an older single lady that needed furniture moved from here garage into her house. She told me that the furniture had been in the garage for 6 months and was so grateful for our help.

Matthew finally surrendered his ice cream cones to play with toys while Dad helped out with the flooring project. So have so many good grandmas in our ward and they all love Matthew to pieces. Every week at church someone tells me how much they enjoy watching him in sacrament meeting with his cute curls. So happy that I can keep the older generation awake with Matthew's antics. :)

For each wish or project I made these signs so people could see everything we accomplished and recognize them for their work. The bishopric submitted a wish that the kitchen at the church building to deep cleaned. We had 12 amazing people who on that and they made the kitchen shine. I've never seen a church kitchen so sparkling clean. We also did some weeding and took green waste to the recycle place for a family that didn't have a truck or trailer and we had a cannery assignment that morning also.

We accomplished every single project that I had for them to do. At the end of the activity we served a huge ice cream sundae bar for everyone. One of my committee members worked for Meadow Dairy and was able to get the ice cream donated. I had 115 people show up to help and it was amazing. I am really grateful for this opportunity I had and was impressed by how much good people can accomplish. The ward council wants to continue the Make a Wish program perhaps quarterly and then divide up the wishes for the auxiliaries to complete. I think a lot of people changed their way of thinking and learned that there was more to welfare than the Bishop's storehouse and fast offerings and that everyone could use a little help sometimes. I particularly enjoyed seeing families serving and working together. I also liked that my kids had an opportunity to donate their hard earned money for other kids who were at the hospital. Really it was an amazing project to be involved in and President Eyring's talk reminder me how special an experience it was.