Mormon Helping Hands

[Calm]

1 minute ago, ksfisher said:

If you weren't able to read or see about what the leaders of the church were doing to help others would you complain that they were doing nothing?

Seriously, this is meant to inspire others. 

I like the visibility of the vests in that it encourages nonmembers to ask for help where they might not otherwise given it is a total stranger.  Allows volunteers to reach people they might not have known about.

[SouthernMo]

4 hours ago, ksfisher said:

If you weren't able to read or see about what the leaders of the church were doing to help others would you complain that they were doing nothing?

Seriously, this is meant to inspire others. 

Would you feel differently if I held a blood drive, and after the fact bought an ad in the paper to show what I’ve done?

[Calm]

4 minutes ago, SouthernMo said:

Would you feel differently if I held a blood drive, and after the fact bought an ad in the paper to show what I’ve done?

Not me.  I would assume you were doing it to encourage others in the future.

[ksfisher]

Just now, SouthernMo said:

Would you feel differently if I held a blood drive, and after the fact bought an ad in the paper to show what I’ve done?

It depends on what your motivation is.  If you're doing it to show others what you have accomplished that's what the scripture warns us about.  Especially if the only reason you did it was to get your picture in front of people and you're really not concerned about the people who need blood.

On the other hand, if your goal was to motivate others to participate in blood drives or similar good deeds then it would seem appropriate. 

[SouthernMo]

42 minutes ago, ksfisher said:

It depends on what your motivation is.  If you're doing it to show others what you have accomplished that's what the scripture warns us about.  Especially if the only reason you did it was to get your picture in front of people and you're really not concerned about the people who need blood.

On the other hand, if your goal was to motivate others to participate in blood drives or similar good deeds then it would seem appropriate. 

That’s my problem. I’m hellu’ prideful. It would be about my own recognition. But, I’m a bad Mormon, so I’m sure I’m in the minority. Most members are good, and would do it for the right reasons.

[SouthernMo]

45 minutes ago, Calm said:

Not me.  I would assume you were doing it to encourage others in the future.

For me - you’d be wrong. See my response above.  I’m not humble.

[ksfisher]

5 minutes ago, SouthernMo said:

That’s my problem. I’m hellu’ prideful. It would be about my own recognition. But, I’m a bad Mormon, so I’m sure I’m in the minority. Most members are good, and would do it for the right reasons.

I think most people are somewhere in between.  We try and be good but we have our weak moments. 

[Hamba Tuhan]

6 hours ago, Calm said:

I like the visibility of the vests in that it encourages nonmembers to ask for help where they might not otherwise given it is a total stranger.

This is a point that should not be overlooked. The mere sight of an identifiable uniform (or even official name badge) significantly increases trust and the likelihood that someone will ask for help. As a full-time missionary, it was common on P-day for people in the shops to ask my companion and me for assistance just because of (a) how we were dressed and (b) our name badges. I ended up teaching a family because the mum mistook us for supermarket employees and asked for help getting her overflowing trolley to her car. She even gave us her car keys ... not something she would have thought to do with two 20-year-old boys dressed in shorts and singlets.

[SouthernMo]

2 hours ago, ksfisher said:

I think most people are somewhere in between.  We try and be good but we have our weak moments. 

Yep - like I said, I am weak, but most Mormons only have weak moments.

[Avatar4321]

3 minutes ago, SouthernMo said:

Yep - like I said, I am weak, but most Mormons only have weak moments.

The Lord said He would thrash the nations with the weak and foolish

[Traela]

The story I heard was that FEMA suggested/requested the vests.  Seems they kept running into groups that were well-organized, knew what they were doing, and were actually helpful.  The vests save time by preventing officials from having to stop and question yet another group that has already been proven trustworthy.

 

[Scott Lloyd]

On 1/14/2019 at 4:01 PM, Hamba Tuhan said:

How about 'Helping Hands'?

I've never actually seen these vests/shirts except in photos. Apparently our stake was given some vests once. No one knows where they went. So we just keep serving without them. Last year, we adopted a village of a few hundred people, and our plan is to have an annual event where we show up en masse with work implements and do whatever needs doing.  Our first service day was  in October, and the Elders and I spent our time on the roof of an old lady's house cleaning out her rain gutters.

I have been onsite in Arkansas and Loisiana for news coverage Church members en masse have been involved in relief and cleanup efforts, all wearing the yellow t-shirts. One man I talked to had been involved in three such efforts over the years and had saved his yellow shirt for re-use in such occasions. 

From what I observed, the yellow shirts served a utilitarian purpose to identify our people as a well-organized group trusted by public safety personnel and recipients of service alike to be at disaster sites and render aid. 

In Baton Rouge, local Church meetinghouses were staging areas for these organized efforts. Our people would come there, many from out of town or out of state, there to be dispatched as teams to work wherever they were needed. 

Some may think the shirts unnecessary, but be that as it may, I think it presumptuous and petty to ascribe ulterior motives to the wearing of them during these relief efforts.