Recently, my church has encouraged us to make a better effort with those who are refugees, asking us to think about "what if their story were my story?" Though this mandate is clear that one on one personal friendship and time is invaluable to helping refugees succeed, the reality is that refugees are somewhat scarce in my neck of the woods, but we still wanted to help in some way. The three women's presidencies gathered to discuss what we could do, and we came away with a fabulous, fun plan. We threw a Baby Shower for refugees. We checked with some local organizations to determine what was needed, and things took off from there. It was delightful. The young girls, Primary (ages 8-11) planned the shower games. The teens, Young Women (ages 12-18) took care of the drinks and decorations. The Women's organization, Relief Society, handled the invites (which went out via email, and were hand delivered to the 150+ homes in the neighborhood) and also delivered the donated goods once the party ended. Each presidency member brought some goodies to share, and our hostess with the mostess welcomed everyone as they trickled in for the open house. With such generous friends and neighbors, the event was a smashing success.
The invite. Not fancy, but it got the message out.
A view of the festivities.
A view form a different side of the room.
Some of the food. The far left back wooden platter was holding banana bread cookies with some fabulous frosting. Worth every calorie.
End of the party I called for reinforcements to help carry stuff to my carry.
Preston isn't just a handsome face, he's also good at lifting diapers and car seats.
My entire van was loaded to the top with the donations, middle seats too.
What a haul!
I'm at the Utah Refugee Center with my assistant in front of our donations.
Norman is such a good assistant.
This is the other side of all of those donations.
These lovely gals were the volunteers that processed the donation.
Well done, ladies... What shall our next project be?
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