Uplift and Serve

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    By Anne Burt

    Days of work involving hundreds of volunteers were needed to successfully complete the preparation work for the various Women”s Conference service activities scheduled for this evening.

    Helen Atkin, project leader for the assembly of 45,000 hygiene kits, said she got desperate for help and received permission to post signs throughout the Wilkinson Center asking for more volunteers. Within a half hour, Atkin said at least five extra volunteers wandered into Room 2142 of the WSC looking to help.

    Atkin said her volunteers needed to fold 90,000 hand towels in preparation for the service project. Tuesday night Atkin said she did not know how the preparation work would be done.

    “It is awesome to see how Heavenly Father provides the people,” Atkin said. “It works. It”s fun.”

    When the hygiene kits are finished Thursday night, each will contain two hand towels, two hair combs, four toothbrushes, one tube of toothpaste, two bars of soap and a 3-by-6 gift card from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

    The volunteers busily pre-folded two hand towels together, put them in boxes and transported them in large boxes to the Wilkinson Center Terrace. Each box holds 32 hand towel bundles.

    Cara Bell, 23, a senior from Orlando, majoring in electrical engineering, said she wandered into the room after she saw a flier asking for help.

    “I just poked my head in,” Bell said, as she flattened and then refolded hand towels together two at a time. “They called me over and got me started.”

    Bell, who did similar service at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake City, said she learned through the Humanitarian Center that hygiene kits are in great demand all over the world.

    Shane Smith, 23, the only male in a room full of 17 women, came to help with his wife.

    Smith is between jobs and said he felt lucky to have time to help with the preparation work.

    “I”d hope that they (the recipients) appreciate all of the time and care we put into folding these things,” Smith said.

    Bonnie Partridge, a resident of Lindon, said this is her first time to help.

    “This is where all the fun is,” Partridge said as she quickly loaded folded hand towels into boxes and sealed them with tape. “We are all ready to cry. So instead we are just enjoying the stress together.”

    Brita Scott, from The Church of Jesus Christ Humanitarian Center, said the hygiene kits go all over the world – including stateside. Scott said the Humanitarian Center recently sent kits to many countries including Tonga, Ukraine and Afghanistan. Scott explained that church area authorities call church headquarters and request what their areas need.

    Assembling the 45,000 hygiene kits for the Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake is the largest service project during Women”s Conference. The Women”s Conference has many service projects, such as assembling newborn kits and school kits.

    “This is kind of like cutting all the vegetables first so Martha Stewart can make the salad,” Atkin said.

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