Members of the Relief Society are marking the 175th anniversary of the world’s largest women’s organization. The Relief Society of Nauvoo was organized by early members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Illinois March 17, 1842.
Rather than a churchwide “event,” Sister Linda K. Burton, Relief Society general president from Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City encouraged the members to remember the milestone during meetings in their local congregations.
Taking this to heart, leaders of the society in Richardson organized a “Service Fair” which was held Saturday, March 25, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints building. Women came from Richardson, Dallas, Garland, Sachse, Wylie, Murphy and Lavon.
Amy Dover, president of the society said:
“When the Relief Society was organized, the first Relief Society President, Emma Smith, declared, “We are going to do something extraordinary.” In celebration of the 175th Anniversary of the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we wanted to be true to our motto, “Charity Never Faileth” (1 Corinthians 13:8) and our organization’s purpose, by seeking out opportunities to serve like our Savior Jesus Christ – to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. On justserve.org and through members in our community we were able to complete ten projects in “unity to help the needy.” I call that extraordinary!”
Women and girls came to be of service to others. Each was invited to participate in any of the following service opportunities:
- Sunday Clothing Exchange – Participants brought lightly used Church clothes to donate and then “shopped” for their own families or for those they knew had need.
- Project Teddy Bear – Participants brought new stuffed animals, any size and created a personalized ribbon tag that says, “You are loved” or “Somebody loves you” to be donated to Hope’s Door.
- Looming Bee – Neonatal hats were knitted, by loom, for the Parkland Hospital NICU.
- Mending for Hearts – Heart shaped pillows were cut out and sewn for breast cancer, heart, and other surgical patients at Baylor Hospital of Plano.
- “Living Water” – Participants were invited to bring a case of 16 oz. water bottles and help label them with the scripture in John 4:13-14. The water was donated to The Salvation Army to pass out during the summer to the homeless.
- Sack Lunches for the Salvation Army – 700 sack lunches are passed out by The Salvation Army every day of the year, filled with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit, chips and a cookie. A day’s worth of sandwiches were made and the lunch sacks were decorated with inspirational messages and happy thoughts.
- Haitian Literacy Project – Helping individuals become literate is one of the roles of the Relief Society throughout the world. French alphabet cards were brightly colored to be delivered to an elementary school in Haiti by Shannon Cox, who serves as President of the Church’s children’s program called Primary, in a Garland congregation.
- The Sweetest Gift – Copies of the Book of Mormon were wrapped and packaged with candy to be given out by young fulltime Sister Missionaries in the area, as the ‘sweetest’ gift they could give.
- Finger Puppets – Finger puppets were cut out and sewn for use by The Salvation Army.
- Focus on Family History – Participants were helped to begin their own “52 Stories Project.” This project encourages writing down one story every week for a year, bringing you 52 steps closer to completing your personal history.