Thank you to Sisters Cendejas, Aiken, Maloney, and other members of the Lincolnton Ward Council for their help with preparing this article.
The Lincolnton Ward has been serving at The Hesed House of Hope since 2017 and the service has blessed all involved. When asked what advice they’d give to other wards looking to outreach in the community, their response encouraged action:
Just do it! You can’t sit around waiting for a service opportunity to fall in your lap. Make some calls, check online to see who is listed on JustServe and find out the needs of your community. I like to talk with members of other churches, you often hear about services they are doing in the community. This is a great way to get involved with other faiths in one common cause for good. Some organizations like “Christian Ministries” are always looking for volunteers.
Sister Aiken
The Hesed House of Hope is a non-profit organization and is currently the only homeless shelter in Lincoln County. It started in 2008 and initially rotated between 5 area churches. In 2009, they broke ground on a permanent facility. The new facility opened in 2012 and served as a wintertime shelter until 2017. In 2017, the Board of Directors made the decision to become a year round shelter starting on Oct 1, 2017. The facility opens each day at 5:30am and closes at 8pm providing temporary shelter for men, women, and children while they get back on their feet. In partnership with DSS and other agencies, the Hesed House works to help their clients apply for any benefits they may be eligible for, support the rapid rehousing model, and help residents in their search for employment.
When Sister Jennifer Cendejas was serving as a counselor in the Young Womens presidency, she felt it was very important for the girls to be involved in service projects. She learned that the Hesed House of Hope was going to go from only being able to keep seasonal hours to being open full time. She reached out to find out their needs. As a result of this outreach, the young women organized donation and delivery of linens. They also organized and folded all the linens in preparation for opening day and made all of the beds for the residents, which included children and babies. In addition, the young women signed up to provide a meal and games, but while we were there, the members realized that they wanted to do more. The serving members talked with the Bishop and agreed that as a ward they could commit to providing meals on a regular schedule. The ward rotates through the auxillaries to collect food donations and to deliver and serve the food.
To fufill the service opportunity, the ward rotates responsiblity amongst the auxiliaries. When the Relief Society was in charge in May, they announced it in church and passed around a sign up sheet for various food items they needed to prepare the meal. They had many individuals donate food and collected it all a few days before the event so it could be prepared ahead of time.
Some members participate by serving meals at the facility during the ward’s scheduled day every other month. They generally need about 6-10 to serve the meal, but sometimes the ward takes a larger group, particularly when the youth attend. During the May trip, several additional sisters volunteered to come help. Many of the sisters said they love the feeling they get serving a meal to the residents. Some of the members go frequently and enjoy talking with and getting to know the residents. And the residents love to visit with the church members.
This was my first experience going and I just loved it. When we arrived with all the food, many residents came out to my van and starting to unload. They also loaded up when we left. The people were all so gracious and thanked us over and over.
To find out more about The Hesed House of Hope, check this link: http://www.hesed-lincoln.org/about-us.html
