Akron Ohio Stake News

Mitzvah Day 2018

submitted by Sister Vanné Callahan

The Akron Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been involved with Mitzvah Day for the past three years. Sponsored by Temple Israel of Akron, Mitzvah Day is a day of service. Mitzvah means “commandment” or “a good deed done from religious duty.” This year 15 churches provided “good deeds” through 18 projects for the community. The Akron Ward was involved in six of those projects.

Mitzvah Day was held on Sunday, June 3. In order to keep the Sabbath Day holy, most of the projects done by the Akron Ward were fulfilled on other days of the week. Then volunteers from other churches finished the work on the actual Mitzvah Day.

One of the projects was the Linus Blanket Project that provides a blanket to each child who is admitted to Akron Children Hospital. The Akron Ward young women made 20 blankets, and 20 more were completed by Relief Society sisters, for a total of 40 blankets given to the hospital program.

Another project was Sewing for Haiti. This project provides dresses made out of pillowcases for little girls in Haiti. There is a lot of prep work before the dresses can be sewn, so the young women cut out, pinned, and prepared 12 dresses at their activity day on May 16. On Mitzvah Day, seamstresses were able to come in and start sewing right away on the dresses the young women had prepared. A total of 20 dresses were completed on Mitzvah Day to be sent to girls in Haiti.

The next project involved making cookies for families at the Ronald McDonald House. The Relief Society sisters made dry mixes for 50 dozen chocolate chip cookies and 50 dozen sugar cookies. A total of 86 dozen cookies were completed and presented to The Ronald McDonald House at the end of the day on June 3.

The fourth project was to create picnic table kits for Habitat for Humanity. Each home that Habitat for Humanity builds for those in need includes a picnic table for the backyard. Members of the Elders quorum cut wood, drilled holes, and counted out screws, nuts, and bolts, creating four picnic table kits that were finished by youth and adults during Mitzvah Day.

Brother Pat and Sister Vanné Callahan were asked to be project leaders for the Brookdale Assisted Living Home. Residents who live there don’t have the opportunity to get out very often. On Saturday June 2, volunteers put together flower pots with impatiens and begonias for the residents to have in their rooms.  On Sunday, several volunteers played uplifting music for the residents. Both projects were enjoyed by the residents, and the volunteers were asked to come back next year.

A thank you dinner was held at the end of the day on Sunday June 3, and the Akron Ward provided bread. At the dinner, each project leader was asked to give a brief talk on how their project went. The last project leader to speak said that “even though this was Mitzvah Day weekend, it was Mitzvah Day week for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”