Latter-day Saints throughout Australia celebrated their annual Day of Service with projects to beautify, clean up, and improve their communities. This year the national event was held in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of the Welfare Services program of the Church.
At the inauguration of the welfare program in 1936, President David O. McKay said the plan was "established by divine revelation, and there is nothing else in all the world that can so effectively take care of its members."
The welfare program instils in individuals and families principles of self-reliance, industry, and helping others. In addition to this concern for the one, the program reaches out to those who suffer from calamity in all lands, regardless of their religious affiliation.
Latter-day Saints feel deeply the desire to follow Jesus Christ's teachings and example of charity, kindness and service.
Celebrating these principles, Latter-day Saints donated their time, means and energy to the National Day of Service established by their Area Presidency. They cleared beaches, weeded parklands and cemeteries, planted trees, spread mulch, and put together hygiene packs, to name just a few of the projects completed.
Most participants felt, however, that they themselves received the greater benefit.
"It just feels really good," was said by young and old alike about their service.
Anita Thompson, working at the Mays Hills Cemetery, said, "If we beautify this place, others may want to come and visit, search their family history, and feel the peace that is here."
Working near Anita was a woman whose daughter was buried thirteen years earlier to the day. "How beautiful it is," she said, "to come and do something for someone else."
The workers embody the real objective of welfare principles, as noted by President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., a member of the First Presidency of the Church from 1933 to 1961:
"The real long-term objective of the welfare plan is the building of character in the members of the Church, givers and receivers, rescuing all that is finest down deep inside of them, and bringing to flower and fruitage the latent richness of the spirit."
Learn more about the welfare program here:
Providing in the Lord's Way
75 Years of Provident Living
Catching the Vision of Self-reliance
Compassionate Service
The Strength of Many