Madison Interfaith Council sponsors youth for 9/11 Day of Service

MADISON – In honor of “September 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance,” 63 teenagers from five local congregations gathered to give service to the community.

Madison Interfaith Council sponsored the event that was held at Restoration Foursquare Church in Madison. Youth from 14 to 18 years old participated from All Nations Great House Ministry, St. Matthews Episcopal Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Most Merciful Jesus Christ Catholic Parish, Restoration Church and Grace Covenant Worship and Outreach.

In 2009, Congress formally recognized 9/11 as an annual “National Day of Service and Remembrance” to honor 9/11 victims and first responders. (en.Wikipedia.org) Helping others on 9/11 stands as a tribute to people who were killed and injured.

In Madison, the outreach event required a few months to plan with help from youth ministers at local churches that are associated with Madison Interfaith Council. Youth from several churches attended planning meetings to share their input.

“Each youth that participated brought a new article of clothing to donate to the Department of Human Resources or DHR den to benefit teens in foster care. Together, they collected six boxes of new clothing, shoes and socks for teens in foster care,” Ed Aycock said. Aycock is Assistant Communication Director – Media for the Madison Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“As they gathered, teens from each church led ice-breaker games so the youth could get to know each other,” Aycock said. “The guest speaker, Brandon Bishop from Madison County Foster and Adoptive Parents Association, encouraged empathy for their peers who may be in foster care and shared messages via video from former foster kids.”

The youth also assembled snack packs to donate to First Stop Inc., who will distribute the food to people experiencing homelessness. Churches participating in Madison Interfaith Council each donated the items in the snack packs. “The youth made quick work of the 301 snack packs that were assembled during the event,” Aycock said.

In addition, youth participants created notes of encouragement to accompany the donated clothing items to the DHR Den for teens in foster care, along with notes to go with the assembled snack packs.

Madison Interfaith Council members who helped with the project are Pastor Eugene Folks, Grace Covenant Worship and Outreach Center; Kendall Williams, First Stop Inc.; Rasaland Richardson, Restoration Church; and Kevin Rodriguez, Most Merciful Jesus Christ Catholic Parish.

Madison Interfaith Council regularly counsels together as representatives of local churches and plans ways to provide compassionate humanitarian service to the community. For more information, email charitystratton@bellsouth.net.