Over 40 young professionals and students of the Dallas YSA (Young Single Adult) 1st Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reached their goal of 1200 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches – assembled and packaged in one evening for the Salvation Army. Elizabeth Andrus, the Salvation Army Volunteer & Resource Coordinator was on hand to explain to those new to this project how the sandwiches will be used. She told the volunteers that “600 sandwiches a day go out in bag lunches with the people who leave the shelter at 8 a.m. to look for work or even head to school for the day. Some residents do remain at the shelter for programs and training and receive lunch there.”
The Salvation Army shelter in downtown Dallas is the largest in Texas – housing from 600 to 800 people each night depending on the weather. As many as 100 homeless veterans are a part of those who depend on this shelter as they work their way back into independence.
Diana Balley of Richardson and Bob Morley of Dallas co-chaired the project. Diana arranged for the supplies through a donation by the Bishops Storehouse of the Church of Jesus Christ and Bob transported the supplies from the Carrollton storehouse to the project site in Dallas.
Young people from this group made over 3000 sandwiches for the Salvation Army shelter last year and hope to do even more this year. When asked why they volunteered, J.C. Allen of Irving responded “It’s good to help other people – especially with food.” Megan Hiatt of Plano agreed “Service is always a good thing.” As he was spreading jelly, Jose Estrada of Garland summed it up “It’s super easy – everybody can do it!”
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Photos courtesy of Debra Eckel