by Charlotte Wilson | May 8, 2013 | Mormons in the News
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often inadvertently referred to as the Mormon Church) have great programs in place to help them serve the community. One of the most noteworthy programs is Mormon Helping Hands. Mormon Helping Hands reaches out to poor and struggling communities and provides volunteers to help accomplish community projects. One of the most recent Mormon Helping Hands took place in Rancho Santa Margarita, California.
Working together as families and friends
On April 27, 2013, families from all over southern California came to volunteer with Mormon Helping Hands. Men, women, and children donned the yellow vests and went to work on a landscaping project and a food drive. Parents brought their children with them, which made this day of service a wonderful family opportunity. Adult volunteers worked on applying mulch to a dog park, planting decorative plants by a parking lot, and repainting park benches. Youth and children volunteers collected food and hygiene items from neighbors and brought them to a local LDS chapel as part of a food drive for Second Harvest Food Bank.
On this one Saturday family members of all sizes had the opportunity to connect with others in the community. Through this service, parents not only taught their children about the value of hard work, but they also taught them the value of reaching out to those in need and the importance of connecting to your community. (more…)
by Terrie Lynn Bittner | Jul 24, 2012 | About Mormons
Vernal, Utah has a new library. The books are only moving next door, but still, there are a lot of books to move. This being Utah and a town made up largely of Mormons who are used to doing service projects, they naturally called on that force to make the move. Community members, were asked to form a human chain to move the books. They formed lines between the libraries and books were taken right off one shelf, handed from person to person, until it was placed on the new shelf. More than 300 volunteers, mostly Mormons, turned out to participate, some dancing to the music being played as they worked.
Read about the human book chain in Utah
Mormons are noted for the amazing number of hours they volunteer, both inside and outside the church. Many areas organize days of service each year to serve their local communities. When there is a weather disaster, Mormons organize to help everyone—regardless of religion—clean up. They volunteer in large numbers in the Boy Scouts, in their children’s schools, and in local charities. Of course, they also volunteer in their church, but often that church work takes them out into the community, as with the Helping Hands program that handles emergencies and local days of service. (more…)
by nora | Feb 22, 2012 | About Mormons
by Mike Taylor
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as Mormons) are called as missionaries. Members of the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir and The Orchestra At Temple Square are all volunteer missionaries. They are called to bear their testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, and are blessed in their callings.
My sweet sister, Susan, was a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for twenty years. She volunteered to become a member of that group and traveled the world. Once while the choir was on tour she fell and seriously cut her leg. Elder Russell M. Nelson, a physician who was also an Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was on tour with the choir at that time and was able to stitch up the gash. She was able to continue on the tour. She said that she had many spiritual experiences come to her as she sang in the choir. (more…)
by | Nov 3, 2011 | Mormons in the News
Mormon Helping Hands, a relief organization organized by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (inadvertently called by friends of other faiths, the “Mormon Church”) recently had a service project in Berlin Germany to help children who are suffering from cancer. The project was open for all those on the street who wanted to stop by and help with the service project.
The project included sewing and assembling small “Broviac” catheter bags, which deliver life-saving medicine into the child’s body. The portable nature of the catheter enables a child suffering from cancer to move about freely. One-thousand bags from the project will be donated to children’s hospitals. (more…)