by Ken Jarvis, Area Media Specialist
For quite some time the city of San Antonio has been involved with helping immigrants. Since last fall most of the attention has been to help Afghan refugees. Before that, it was the influx of young boys from Central and South America. The truth is for many years San Antonio has been receiving refugees from around the world. A number of civic, religious and government organizations have united to aid as of as many of these refugees as possible.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has greatly increased its involvement in these activities. The need to support worthy community activities was emphasized in the 1990 General Conference by Elder Glenn L. Pace, then Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. He spoke of the need to, “…reach out beyond the walls of our own church.” He chided members of the Church a little by saying, “We cannot become the salt of the earth if we stay in one lump in the cultural halls of our beautiful meetinghouses.”
So how do we find ways to reach out to others? One excellent way is to use the Just Serve website (https://www.justserve.org/). According to Becky Brusso, JustServe Specialist for the San Antonio Area, “JustServe is largely not service for the Church it is service for the community. In the San Antonio Area every stake has a JustServe Specialist and hopefully soon every ward will have one too.” Brusso added that all of these callings are really community based. “It’s about helping organizations in your community to post their projects and their need for volunteers and donations on the JustServe website.”
Support for the Afghan refugees was given an extra boost by having the San Antonio Area stakes invite their units to provide support. According to Joann Franck with the San Antonio Center for Refugee Services, what made this particular program so effective was that our congregations do all the collecting and distributing in one big event. “The families are being serviced much more efficiently because when they arrive in their apartment they are given everything, or nearly everything and sometimes much more.” Franck added, “Your members have really met the needs of these families so beautifully and have eased the burden for the San Antonio Refugee Center.”
An example of how this works was demonstrated by the Hill Country Stake. The assignment was passed to the Stake Relief Society by the Stake Presidency. They had a list of needed items provided by the Refugee Center. That list was divided among the Stake’s 10 congregations. The items were then collected and transported to the receiving families.
Other examples of how this is working can be found in previous stories on this website (https://churchofjesuschristsat.org/). Articles posted December 21 & 24 tell about the Seguin Ward of the Cibolo Valley Stake. Seguin Ward Bishop, Tim Bird, pledged that his congregation would furnish 100 apartments. As of January 23, 43 families have received needed furnishings and supplies.
This level of activity has not gone unnoticed by community leaders. Earlier this month the city of San Antonio sponsored a multi-faith symposium dealing with immigration, homelessness, abuse, as well as other similar issues. The JustServe Website was mentioned several times by other civic and religious leaders as an effective platform to match volunteers with projects. In addition, Don Larson, Chairman of the San Antonio Area Communications Council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was invited to be a presenter on the subject of immigration.
“I was surprised by the invitation to participate in this symposium,” said Larson. “I was standing with Rev. Ann Helmke, Faith Liaison, city of San Antonio, at the Welcome Walk sponsored by Culturingua when the invitation came. I was enjoying relationships that have been formed as part of my calling as a Communication Director.”
He went on to comment on the Church’s increased role in these community activities. “It is wonderful to see the Lord‘s hand in this work. Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ comes naturally as we serve others.” Larson added, “My participation in the Symposium was another opportunity to build this ‘coalition of good’ which I think is possible as we build relationships in our communities. As we go about doing good as disciples of the Savior Jesus Christ, we bring people to his gospel.”
In the 2018 General Conference, President Henry B. Eyring addressed how this service benefits those who serve. “When we are engaged in service to others, we think less about ourselves, and the Holy Ghost can more readily come to us and help us in our lifelong quest to have the gift of charity bestowed upon us.”