Week 7: Humanitarian Aid

Our service this week was to put together a hygiene kit for the LDS Humanitarian Center.

Sunday night we had a lesson about hygiene. We talked about how it would be to brush your hair without a comb or brush; washing your body without soap; brushing your teeth without toothpaste. It would be really hard to do. We talked about if there is a big disaster like an earthquake or fire, we would need to leave our home and might not have the essentials.

I found this article in the Friend magazine, "A Year Without Gifts," and read it to the family. It's about a family who decided not to buy gifts for the family that year. They made gifts for each other and did a lot of service instead.

The church has a great program to help people in need all around the world. This video really shows how quickly the church works. We showed it to the girls.

Later in the week we went to the store to gather the supplies:

2 unbreakable combs (without sharp handles)
4 packaged toothbrushes
1 6-8 oz tube of toothpaste
2 bars of soap
2 15x25" new hand towels


Then we assembled the items together in a gallon-sized zip lock bag. After that we boxed them up and sent them to the church Humanitarian Center.

Latter-day Saint Humanitarian Center
1665 South Bennett Road
Salt Lake City, UT 84104


The girls really want their kits to go to Africa. However, there's no telling where they will go. It's such a blessing to know that we can, for just a few dollars, send hygiene essentials to people who are in need.

Week 6: Heart Attack Bouquets

This week for service we decided to give some Heart Attack Bouquets. The book suggested doing a Heart Attack for a local senior lady, but we wanted to put our own spin on it. The girls wanted to show their love and appreciation to their Primary teachers. We decided to do this anonymously.

Here's what we made.

It was fun and super easy to do. We went to the local craft store and picked up a big pack of red pipe cleaners and a couple packs of felt heart stickers. At our local hardware/garden center we picked up two mini rose plants.


Once home, we put two felt heart stickers on the end of a pipe cleaner. We made a lot of these heart stems. When they were complete, we trimmed the edges of the pipe cleaners so we'd have different lengths of heart stems. Finally, we stuck them into the dirt around the flower. We made a little note saying, "I Love You!"


That night we drove to the lady's homes, put the note and flower heart attack bouquets on their doorsteps, rang the doorbell and ran.


The girls really loved the ding dong ditching part the best. But it was fun to make the bouquets too.

This is great for Valentine's day, but also great any time of year. There are so many types of felt stickers and different colors of pipe cleaners. It's just fun to make these to show appreciation.

Fear less, hope more, eat less, chew more, whine less, breathe more, talk less, say more, love more, and all good things will be yours.
Swedish Proverb

Week 5: Fireman Appreciation Week

This week we decided to show our appreciation for our local firemen. In the book, 52 Weeks of Fun Family Service, there are many ideas of things to do for the firemen. We decided to make a candy poster. Remember making those in high school or college?

Sienna and Daddy went to the store to pick out all the candy bars we'd use along with a nice sturdy piece of foam core poster board. We used our bright colored markers and came up with a cute card using the candy. Since it's close to Valentine's day we cut hearts out of wrapping paper and put them around the poster in several places.

Here's what it says:

"Dear Firemen,

Every Now & Later you deserve an Extra PayDay. It isn't 100Grand and it may give U the Snickers. Our Hearts are filled with Mounds of thanks for not being Nerds but for being Life Savers. Like the 3Musketeers you save KitKats from trees in your Big Red firetrucks and Whatchamacallits. From the Milky Way to Carlsbad, we thank you."


Saturday we stopped by our local fire station, Fire Station #6. There were 3 guys on duty. There was the captain, the engineer and the firefighter/paramedic. We explained about our year of service and how this week is Fireman Appreciation Week. We wanted to show our gratitude for all they do for our community. They loved the card. Sienna told them to only eat one piece of candy at a time.


They pulled the fire truck into the station so we could get a couple photos by it with them. I think it really made their day.


What the girls thought:
Sienna: "My favorite part was telling them to only eat one piece of candy."
Haven: "My favorite part was giving them the card."

This picture is the view from the fire station.
Great huh? They work so hard for us that they deserve the best view of all!

"Community cannot for long feed on itself; it can only flourish with the coming of others from beyond, their unknown and undiscovered brothers."

Howard Thurman