Lose yourself in service to others and ‘heal together’
With the parable of the good Samaritan, the Savior taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves (Luke 10:30-37). With His answer to the rich young ruler, He taught us to shed our selfishness (Matthew 19:1624). With the feeding of the 5,000, He taught us to see to the needs of others (Matthew 14:15-21). And with the Sermon on the Mount, He taught us to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33).
“In every community, there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart, there is power to do it.” Marianne Williamson, author and lecturer.
But, just how can we serve others like Jesus did? How can we help heal? How can we help improve the quality of life for those in need? A good way to start is to volunteer in your own community.
I believe nothing should get in the way of organizations and volunteers coming together to do good things for the community. JustServe.org helps make it happen for free. JustServe. org is a free website where the
volunteer needs of nonprofit organizations may be posted and volunteers may search for places to serve in the community, providing opportunities to help those in need and enhance the quality of life in the community.
It is a service to help link community volunteer needs
with volunteers and does not discriminate based on race, religion, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation in posting projects or in encouraging volunteers to serve.
For the individual
“Those who are happiest are those who do the most for others.” Booker T. Washington, African American civil rights leader.
As we serve each other, our problems and worries become less important. We begin to heal together.
For the family
Community service helps young people build skills for family, career, and community roles. It encourages young people to develop the positive character traits of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.
For the community
“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say “It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.” Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.” Fred Rogers, host of educational children’s television show, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”
Some typical humanitarian and community projects that can be found on JustServe. org include shelters, kitchens, food banks and pantries, church organizations, quilting events, clean-up events, annual nonprofit events, parks, playgrounds, blood drives, drives for food, clothing, coats, toiletries and more.
“For a community to be whole and healthy, it must be based on people’s love and concern for each other.” Millard Fuller, Founder of Habitat for Humanity.
We may not solve world hunger immediately, but by serving with each other in our local communities, we’re paving the way for much broader changes. Our individual efforts don’t need to be huge — a little bit of change here, a few hours there — but even small efforts quickly add up to make a real difference.
As we work side-by-side and learn from each other, mutual understanding increases, misconceptions can be corrected, and new friendships are built. If you would like to volunteer in your community, please visit www.justserve.org and type in your ZIP code. Be sure to select the maximum distance you would like to travel to volunteer to include more projects in your search results. Then click on the projects to learn more.
JustServe.org isn’t just for finding projects to volunteer with. If you know of a non-profit organization that could benefit from placing their volunteer needs on this free website, please contact me at the email address listed below.
“A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.” Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa
I truly believe we bless others as we serve in the shadow of “Jesus of Nazareth … who went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). As we serve each other, God, in turn, blesses us and helps our love for others to grow even more.
Keith Wills is president of The Reading Pennsylvania Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and directs the spiritual leadership of 13 congregations throughout eastern Pennsylvania. President Wills can be contacted at wills.keith@ yahoo.com. For more information about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please visit www.comeuntochrist.org