Prosper Children’s Ministry Collects Food Donations for Local Pantry and Dallas Homeless

Prosper, TX — More than a hundred Prosper area children, young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gathered at an Olympic-themed event on July 19 to celebrate community and unity through a day of service.

“We love giving our children the opportunity to get together to have fun, establish new friendships, build community, serve others, learn of Christ, and be introduced to new things,” says Julie Clark, the ministry’s leader and event organizer. “​​With the Olympics coming up in Paris, we thought it would be exciting for the children to have an event with that focus.”

The young participants were divided by age group and cycled through stations where they played games, learned new skills, and listened to a variety of stories about Olympic heroes who overcame adversity and pushed through hard things.

“We learned about someone who got hurt during his race,” says Archer Rogers (9), a ministry participant about Derek Redmond who tore his hamstring during the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. “But his dad came to him and helped him finish. We learned we can help people too, even if it’s just being a friend to someone who is having a hard time.”

Another participant explained that the Olympics reminds her that we are all brothers and sisters, no matter where we are from — just like Jesus teaches.

“We are so lucky to have so many great children from wonderful families in our area who were willing to donate food and decorate lunch bags for the homeless in Dallas,” says Clark. The children decorated 500 bags in all and collected cereal, snack bars, fruit cups and applesauce. These donations will benefit Salvation Army North Texas and Neighbors Nourishing Neighbors in their efforts to relieve hunger in our area.

If you would like to help the Salvation Army or Neighbors Nourishing Neighbors with their ongoing needs, visit their websites or JustServe.org.