Teens unite with local charities to serve community
Taffee Becker300 Alliance area youth from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints make Service the focal point of youth conference
Photos by Abby McEwen
It seems we begin to understand the love of the Savior Jesus Christ for us, even more, as we serve each other, which is what He exemplified in His life work here on earth. Opportunities to help each other in our communities are numerous and come when we care, build relationships, and give of ourselves.
For this very purpose, collaborative efforts have developed over time between Just Serve specialists Krystle Hoskins and Aimee Shuldberg with Catholic Charities Fort Worth and Northwest ISD Education Foundation (NEF). This partnership recently resulted in over 300 youth from 11 congregations, ages 14 -18, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints participating in community service for both organizations.
An all-day youth conference took place on Saturday, March 26, in Trophy Club, where the teens were divided into companies of 10-20 people. These groups attended classes together with rotations every hour throughout the day. They enjoyed social team-building activities, instructional opportunities, a devotional, and participated in two service opportunities. Alissa, one of the youths, shared, “It was a good way to meet people and serve the community.”
Catholic Charities Fort Worth provides services to parents who come in to receive counseling, food, or other resources. Many times, parents are accompanied by young children, and they are provided “busy books” to enjoy a fun activity while waiting for their parent(s). During the all-day conference, youth were able to complete 475 of these busy books. Another 125 will be completed by a group of these youth later this year.
Another organization making a real difference is Northwest ISD Education Foundation (NEF). Their mission is to fund several programs; scholarships, a Resource Store for teachers on site for free classroom supplies, a summer program providing snack packs for children whose families have limited financial resources, etc. The conference youth also enjoyed assembling 2,000 snack packs to assist NEF’s summer program for children who take these home where food might not be plentiful for their growing needs.
In summing up their experiences, Aliya, one of the participants, shared, “Both service projects were really well set up and planned. I like how they gave us the background and why we did it, so we could know and understand. Plus, it was pretty fun too.” One of the young men, Matthew, said, “It was cool knowing that we were helping the community.”
To learn more about what these two organizations do for our communities and find ways to help serve, go to https://www.justserve.org/catholiccharitiesoffortworth for Catholic Charities FW and https://www.justserve.org/northwestisdeducationfoundation for Northwest ISD Education Foundation (NEF). What a great way to serve our community with your family, friends, business associates, or church congregations.
Taffee Becker is an executive assistant and communications office manager for a county hospital. She loves time with family, the arts, hiking, camping, and traveling.
