Spreading Peanut Butter, Spreading Hope on the 9/11 National Day of Service

Prosper, Texas. Teen and adult volunteers assembled about 450 sack lunches last week in honor of the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance. These lunches benefitted homeless individuals through the Salvation Army of North Texas, which delivers up to 1,000 lunches daily to the hungry across several Dallas and Fort Worth counties.

The Salvation Army fights poverty, addiction, and homelessness, with a motto of “doing the most good for the most people.” In North Texas, that means covering 4,078 square miles in Dallas, Tarrant and Ellis, Denton and Collin, and Rockwall Counties, making this “the largest Salvation Army Command in the world,” according to their website.

Ana Blick, a seventh grader, helped spread peanut butter and jelly and assemble sandwiches. “It was fun, and it felt good to help people,” she said.

Justin Bunker, a junior in high school, focused on the importance of remembering the sacrifices of the first responders who served their neighbors and even gave their lives on that fateful day in 2001. “It was such a tragic day and so there were so many people that were involved in helping,” he said. “So we just want to try and keep that up.” He emphasized how much fun it is to gather with friends and do simple acts of service.

Abby Ryan, a high school sophomore who recently moved to Prosper, was thoughtful about the impact their service had on others. “For every sandwich that I made, I was just thinking about the person who was going to receive it,” she said. “And I think that it’s really cool that every single sandwich I made, even though each one took like 30 seconds, it was going to give them something to eat…. It took so little effort on my part and it’s just going to help someone in such a big way.”

The sandwiches and other donated items were added to lunch sacks that had been decorated by children earlier in the summer at an Olympic-themed activity that helped them celebrate unity and community.

Kent Hooper, bishop of a congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Prosper, said that this project was an opportunity to do what Jesus Christ did for others. “The Savior made a living, meaning he was out there all the time with people that were different than the status quo or whatever was out there in the world,” said Hooper. “He was hanging out with people that needed help, that needed to have change…. What better thing could we do than go out there and try to help and serve those that are in need?”

To volunteer with the Salvation Army in your area, visit JustServe.org for ongoing project details at this link.