9/11 Day Of Service
- Chris Peterson
- Sep 20, 2024
- 4 min read
A total of 144 Nampa West Stake members volunteered 315 hours of service for the 9/11 Day of Service
Stake Council
The Stake Relief Society put together 9 baskets of drinks and snacks donated by the Stake Presidency, High Council and Stake Women’s Leaders. The baskets included cookies, chips, nuts, beef jerky and candy bars. They were delivered to First Responders at the Fire Department, Life Guards at the Nampa Rec Center and Security Guards for local Schools.
7th Ward
Elders Quorum
Sister Becky Evans coordinated and organized the delivery of 80 bicycles to 21 local schools in Nampa. These bicycles were part of the Nampa Bicycle Project run by LaRita Schandorff. This organization salvages bikes taken to the local Nampa Dump. After veterans and inmates from the Canyon County Jail repair the bicycles, they are delivered to local school where students from low-income families have been selected to receive them.
Relief Society
30 sisters helped Sharon Barnes, our ward Humanitarian Specialist, purchase fabric then cut and sew 52 flannel baby blankets and 160 burp cloths. They were delivered to the Assistance League of Canyon County. This organization puts together duffle bags with babies needs for low-income new moms in Canyon County then they are distributed by St. ALS and St. Lukes hospitals within the county. They were running out of burp cloths and were so excited to get them!
Young Women
12 volunteers including leaders and young women served residents at Streamside Assisted Living by singing and playing the piano/ accordion for 1 hour.
11th Ward
Bishop Erickson challenged the members of his ward to volunteer as individuals and families to provide service in the community for the 9/11 Day of Service. They had 10 members serve 22 hours. Their main service project is donating food for Scouting For Food in November.
14th Ward
For the 9/11 Day of Service 20 individuals from our Spanish Speaking Ward gathered to serve New Horizon Dual Language School with some projects they needed help with. They donated 50 hours helping paint walls, putting together bulletin boards and cleaning. As you can see by the pictures this group had a great time serving a local grade school.
26th Ward
In the 26th Ward boundaries there is a non-member family who is facing a crisis. The father unexpectedly passed away, leaving a wife and four children still at home. The ward stepped in to donate needed items via Amazon and to do yard work on the 11th. There were three other yards in the ward where yard work was done that night also. There were about 30 people involved, totaling about 40 hours of work.
38th Ward
The Priests' Quorum performed yard work at The House Next Door, kept going by Grace Episcopal Church. The work was done on 9/11. There were 5 that participated and worked for a little more than an hour totaling 6 hours. The Elders' Quorum is serving lunch at the Salvation Army on Tuesday, 9/17. There will be 5 participating in that service for a total of 10 hours.
8th Ward
The 8th ward is working on getting the needs from the Nampa school district working with kids that are homeless. Assisting with School supplies and other needs they may be facing. This service is benefiting children of the community, partnering with Nampa school District. It is an ongoing project.
43rd Ward
They have an ongoing project with Valley Women and Children's Shelter in Nampa to provide supplies, whatever they are most in need of. Sometimes it happens when an influx of women and children arrive and they need things quickly. In the past some of the items have included batteries, disinfectant and zip lock bags.
45th Ward
The 45th Tongan Ward partnered with Idaho Pacific Islanders, a local non-profit 501(c)3 organization. The purpose of this organization is to educate and perpetuate the cultures and traditions of the Polynesian people here in the State of Idaho. The most important emphasis of the organization is to teach Polynesian youth the spirit of Polynesia through song, chants, dance, food and language.
Idaho Pacific Islanders held its first annual Idaho Islander “Festival” at Kleiner Park in Meridian Idaho on August 3, 2024. This Festival was open to the community and free of charge to the public. Festival attendance was estimated to be between 7 and 8 thousand people attending from 10 am and 10 pm. All the major Polynesian islands represented their cultures with performances, cultural demonstrations, and activities.
The 45th Tongan Ward offered to create a tent to display items from the islands of Tonga and to provide cultural demonstrations about the nafa (Tongan drums) and the kava ceremony. A male LDS missionary from Tonga with his companion taught onlookers the basics of nafa drumming at the Tonga tent.
The 45th Tongan Ward also performed a group dance consisting of male and female dancers called the "ma'ulu'ulu" (the sitting dance) which included an age range from a toddler through individuals in their 80s. A female Tongan LDS missionary and her companion joined our dance group.
Our ward also invited the minister of the local Tongan Orthodox church to lead our ward in a concluding spiritual hymn called “This World” (known to Tongans as Mamani 'Oku Faka'ofa) this is a song featured on the album “The other side of Heaven 2” which is sung by the Kolipoki Choir (“Kolipoki” is “Groberg” in Tongan, referring to Elder John H. Groberg, a well-known Caucasian American who served his LDS mission in the Kingdom of Tonga, for which several books and movies were created about his time in Tonga).
The festival ended with a free concert performed by Junior Maile, a well-known Tongan / LDS musician, who performed island reggae and even sang the LDS Tongan church hymn "Folofola Mai 'a Sisu" which turned into a sing along with many of the Tongans in attendance.
Approximately 40 members of the 45th Tongan Ward prepared for over a month to participate and/or provide support for the Islander Festival.
Many positive connections were made between 45th Tongan Ward members and the greater Polynesian community, and with many other community members who attended or supported the festival.
The following is a short video compilation of the Idaho Islander Festival.
45th Tongan Ward members performing the ma'ulu'ulu
This is LDS missionary Elder Tau and 2nd counselor Pulia Tuha and ward member Vai Vasi teaching a community member about the Tongan Nafa (Tongan Drums)
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