Hearts and Hands 2011

Saturday was our 11th and final Hearts and Hands service project.

We spent the day pinning,

tacking,

sorting,

packaging,

tying,

cutting,

finishing,

 and organizing.

As always, we are amazed and touched by the amount of donations that poured in.

We are grateful for every donated pencil, diaper, backpack, can of food, and clothing item given.

Those who receive these goods are so thankful.

We know many incredible women who spent this past year piecing and finishing quilts, putting together clothing protectors, and collecting needed goods.

Thank you to the sisters who brought the delicious soups for our luncheon.

 I sampled several of the soups, but couldn't quite decide which was yummiest.

Hearts and Hands has always been a great place to see old friends,  

catch up on each other's lives

and enjoy the company of our sisters.

Naturally, this year was no exception!

 Thank you to each sister who came and spent an hour or the day working.

We know you are busy in your own lives.

Last year when we picked the day for Hearts and Hands

we tried hard to pick a "free" day.

Of course, over time we discovered we picked the same day as the scout show and prom.

 We know many of you wanted to be with us, but had personal or family responsibilities today.  We missed you, but we understand.

Hopefully, if you came you had a chance to meet some of the great people who come from other churches in the area.  These wonderful young men have been coming with Pastor Mike from the Community Church for many years.

We will be sad to see the end of Hearts and Hands, but we also feel good about the decision to turn things over the wards and branches.  

Of course, we encourage each of you to find ways to give community service on your own.

We can even provide you with a list of the fabulous charities we've worked with over these last years.  If you are interested contact Francine Palmer or Rexene Tilley for this list, as well as information about the kind of donations we having been providing them.

There are many local organizations that would appreciate your time.

Thank you, sisters, for making Hearts and Hands such a positive, successful project each year.

Maybe you went home like I did: sore muscles, tender, bleeding fingertips,

 

but a heart full of gladness for the privilege of serving

and a deeper appreciation for my own blessings.

 By the end of the day our distribution tables were again overflowing.

We give a special thanks to the sisters from both stakes who were ward and branch coordinators, project leaders, creators of posters and advertising, and organizers of all kinds.  Thank you, Francine and Rexene for all of the time and effort you put into making this year's event so wonderful.

We are indebted to priesthood brethren from several wards who set up hundreds of chairs and tables, then came and took them down and helped us clean up.

 We love our missionaries who cheerfully loaded waiting charity vans and chairs with our finished products.



Willing Hearts and Helping Hands.

On Thursday night several men from Alkali Creek Ward worked hard to set up all of our tables and chairs in all of our rooms.  We are so grateful for their help--we couldn't have done it without them!

When we arrived early Friday morning to begin preparations for Hearts and Hands I looked at our big, empty gym and wondered if we would have enough donated items and enough sisters to meet our goals.

It wasn't long before our rooms began to fill with donated goods.

All of these boxes came from Hardin Branch.

Hardin has been collecting donations to send to Mongolia, but as postage has gotten so expensive they've been unable to send them.  They donated to Hearts and Hands instead.

Many wards and branches brought bags and bags of finished quilts.

It wasn't long before we had plenty of boxes and sacks to sort through,

and lots of supplies to count.

 We were so thankful for those that came to help.

We are grateful for sisters who set up various rooms

or sorted through clothes for our used clothes section. When you come tomorrow, you can take anything you want from these clothes before they are donated to Family Services.

We have quilts of every color and size.

Many vehicles arrived throughout the day, filled to the top with boxes and sacks of donated goods.

We were amazed at the beautifully handmade hats, scarves and gloves.

We encouraged wards and branches to finished as many quilts in advance as possible.  There were many, many beautiful finished quilts.

We still have several quilts to finish on Saturday.

Monad Ward brought 54 beautiful full size quilts, quilted by long-arm machine and bound by hand.

Many sisters come to spent the afternoon tying quilts.

We had members of other community churches come and donate their expertise.

By the end of today, our formerly empty gym was full of donated goods.

We so appreciate each and every item donated by the wonderful members of our two stakes.  We are grateful for all of the time spent tying quilts and making fleece blankets in advance. We still have hundreds of kits to assemble, dozens of quilts to tie, and hundreds of items to count and sort.  Please join us Saturday, March 18, from 9 am on.  Come enjoy a tasty lunch with us, the fellowship of your sisters and community members, and the joy of serving.