Latter-day Saint youth from the Sydney suburb of Bankstown recently gave up sport and social activities to spend a Friday evening visiting and serving homeless individuals in downtown Sydney.
The group, along with their parents and youth leaders, went to areas of Woolloomooloo to distribute food and clothing to those in need recently.
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Laurence Sasulu, a Latter-day Saint leader, said, “We asked each youth to bring three cans of food and a blanket, if they were able to. They ended up bringing much more and we filled a truckload.”
Another Church leader, Foga’a Masoe, observed that: “The youth seemed to be nervous at first, because they didn’t know how to approach the people, but after they talked with the first person, they were fine.”
One of the youth, Tyron Rio, said, “I learnt from this experience how to talk to people. I was surprised and shocked to see that there was a homeless kid just about my age.”
When Mr. Sasulu was asked to share his most memorable experience of the evening, he said, “While Tyron and I were walking to give a man one of the blankets, another man walked up and asked if he could have it. The first man said, ‘Give it to him, because I have something and he doesn’t have anything.’’’
“I was impressed by the generosity of this man who had so little himself, but was still willing to give.”
Ms. Masoe recalled that, “When we gave a sleeping bag to one of the men, he had tears in his eyes and said he had been after one of these for a long time. One of the young men then asked me if we could give the man our whole bag of food.”
She continued: “After the youth had distributed all of the food and blankets, they started giving their own jumpers, scarves, beanies and snacks. When they had nothing left to give, they just wanted to stay and talk to the people.”
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serve locally and around the world as they strive to follow the example of Jesus Christ.
Watch a video about the church’s Humanitarian efforts.
Watch a video about Mormon Helping Hands community service efforts.