This year, The Salem Oregon Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints commemorated the 9/11 National Day of Service by participating in a number of service activities across the area. These projects included arranging and providing haircuts for unhoused members of our community, collecting and delivering meals to teachers and other school staff, and sprucing up a local park.

Back-to-School Haircuts

On August 29, 2024, a back-to-school haircut event, organized by the Salem Stake communications committee, took place at the Church @ the Park family facility. For the second year, hairdressers from Salem, Monmouth, and Keizer Stakes contributed their time, equipment, and skills to provide hair cutting and styling for residents—both children and adults—at the shelter. Participants were also given hairbrushes and other hair care products purchased by Salem Stake members—who responded to the email request for donations very promptly, filling the needed quota in just a few hours!

SKSD Community Cares Meals

For another 2024 Salem Stake Day of Service opportunity, we joined with more than forty other faith groups and community members as part of the United Way/Salem Leadership Foundation SKSD Community Cares Project to show support for area school teachers and staff by providing meals to show appreciation at the beginning of another school year.

About twenty-five stake members contributed breakfast items, such as bagels, yogurt, muffins, and fruit to breakfasts for the staff at local schools. Members of the stake also delivered these breakfasts—along with a card of appreciation to each school.

Recipients of the breakfasts expressed their gratitude for the meal and for the support; one staff member described the project and our contribution as “so generous!” And others mentioned how grateful they were for the way the community came together to help them.

Stayton Community Center Park

About fifty Salem Stake members, supported by City of Stayton staff, gathered at the Stayton Community Center Park on Saturday, September 7, to complete several projects. Crews of participants, who ranged in age from toddler on up, trimmed rhododendron bushes, repainted the entrance sign, pulled weeds around the roses, removed some shrubs, and spread bark mulch. The atmosphere was charged with cooperation and camaraderie as everybody pitched in and watched their efforts transform and beautify the park.

Turner Elementary School Staff Meal

On September 11, Salem Stake members provided and delivered breakfast items to Turner Elementary School staff. Nine members participated and the staff expressed warm appreciation for the care and concern.

Salem Stake Members Continue to Serve

These organized service projects gave families and individuals in the Salem Oregon Stake a variety of opportunities to serve in our community and to coordinate with other community groups. For Salem Stake members, service and cooperation are not limited to a few weeks in September. Through JustServe.org, members can make a difference in the community—as individuals or with family, youth, ward, or stake groups—-while building relationships with members of other service- and faith-based organizations. “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.” (Mosiah 2:17)

On June 18, around eighty Salem Oregon Stake children, youth, and adults welcomed the beginning of summer vacation with a JustServe Summer Kick-off event at Woodmansee Park in south Salem.

Bringing their rakes, shovels, and wheelbarrows, participants worked together to spread bark mulch on dirt trails near the playground. Along with helping on the trail restoration project, children colored Thank-You cards for the use of Liberty House and Welcome cards for refugees.

The weather was perfect for a morning in the park and willing workers accomplished a great deal during the two-hour project. Parents and grandparents shoveled mulch alongside their children and grandchildren, youth and older children drove wheelbarrows, and even the smallest worker could help spread the bark mulch on the trails. One of the children, Hayden, declared,”I like the shovel better than the rake.” Kennedy enjoyed finding centipedes in the mulch, and Halle described “making the trails smooth and flat.”

As part of this day of service, more than a dozen used bicycles were contributed and summer toys were collected. The bicycles were given to Northwest Bike Hub which repairs and donates bikes to those in need in the community, and the toys went to the Church @ the Park facility for families experiencing homelessness.

To help families, children, and individuals find more ways to serve, handouts with QR codes linking to JustServe service opportunities were distributed (along with popsicles) at the conclusion of the activity.

For opportunities to serve with your family this summer, go to JustServe.org and find a project that works for you.

Here are a few possibilities from those shared at the event:

Since the summer of 2023, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Salem, Oregon, have each Sunday shared food, conversation, and acceptance with residents of the Church @ the Park young adult community. 

These meals have both relieved hunger and helped restore dignity for some of Heavenly Father’s children who are experiencing homelessness—and they have inspired and uplifted ward members as they’ve followed the Savior’s example to love, listen, and connect. 

“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matt 25:40).

This thriving program provides a hot meal every Sunday afternoon for young people ages 18 to 24 at their place of refuge and shelter. In addition, since ward volunteers are invited to stay and share the meal with residents and staff, the experience provides a setting for building relationships and connections through shared stories and activities. Having this opportunity to collaborate with other Salem faith groups helps build bridges between local leaders and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and our neighbors in the community as well.

The assignments, facilitated by the Salem Stake Communications Leadership and Ward Leads, rotate weekly among eighteen Salem wards from the Salem Stake, the Monmouth Stake, and the Keizer Stake. Ward Leads select a menu and arrange for ward members to donate and deliver food to the facility. Beyond preparing food and setting up for the meal, volunteers being able to stay to eat and interact enriches the experience for everyone. One Salem Stake member describes it as, “Being there for people who need it. Being there to love and to listen as the Savior would if He was there.”

To participate, sign up when it is your ward’s turn! Each ward receives the assignment only four times a year and although space is limited, it is hoped that everyone who wants to join in is able to do so—as often as they wish. Once you have signed up, you will receive information about specific expectations and guidelines.

Stake members have described their experiences at Church @ the Park as eye-opening and heart-warming. Laura Greaves relates an experience she had with a young resident who was confused about what identification she would need for a job. “From ten minutes of conversation—and because we had developed a trusting relationship—I could reassure her and help her with something she was really worried about,” Sister Greaves reports.

Sarrah Taylor has attended several times, “It’s cool to see the residents move on as they get jobs and housing,” she says.

Pringle Ward Lead Pam Decker says, “Sharing a meal and getting to know some of the young adults at Church @ the Park youth shelter was a wonderful, spiritual experience.”

Church @ the Park assists people experiencing homelessness through a variety of projects, including managed camping, safe parking, and emergency sheltering. Along with housing and food, the young adult residents are able to access education support, life-skills and job training, as well as counseling and other services.

Our shared Sunday meals program isn’t the only way to serve at Church @ the Park. To find out about other opportunities, go to their website at church-at-the-park.org and look at their “Volunteers” tab. Or check out JustServe.org to see Church @ the Park listings there.

In the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 14, the Savior says “when thou makest a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors. . .When thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed.”

Serving all of God’s children—whatever their life experiences—will not only bring succor to them, it will also bring us closer to Jesus Christ, as we shape our lives around His.