Cleaning Church Buildings

[Tacenda]

I feel for whomever is in charge of this. So many times it falls on them and their families to do the job. Why did the church lay off the paid janitors? Was it that they thought the members of the church needed one more service? It's always the same people over and over that get stuck with jobs in the church because they'll do it. I'm sorry but I had to rant on this. When will the leaders see that this is being overextending?

[MorningStar]

I'm not sure why they changed it, but my kids became more respectful of the building when they had to help clean it for hours. The more buildings we have, the more janitors we would need, and maybe that has just becomes too expensive. People are still paid to clean temples though.

[ERayR]

I feel for whomever is in charge of this. So many times it falls on them and their families to do the job. Why did the church lay off the paid janitors? Was it that they thought the members of the church needed one more service? It's always the same people over and over that get stuck with jobs in the church because they'll do it. I'm sorry but I had to rant on this. When will the leaders see that this is being overextending?

You are in the wrong ward then. In our ward it is by assignment. Seems to work well. Since its inception members seem to be less prone to litter.

[ERayR]

I'm not sure why they changed it, but my kids became more respectful of the building when they had to help clean it for hours. The more buildings we have, the more janitors we would need, and maybe that has just becomes too expensive. People are still paid to clean temples though.

I think it was done to give the members a feeling of ownership. Like you have noticed in your children.

[Sleeper Cell]

I feel for whomever is in charge of this. So many times it falls on them and their families to do the job. Why did the church lay off the paid janitors? Was it that they thought the members of the church needed one more service? It's always the same people over and over that get stuck with jobs in the church because they'll do it. I'm sorry but I had to rant on this. When will the leaders see that this is being overextending?

I agree. Unfortunately, in any organization, it seems that 90% of the work is done by 10% of the people. I think that the original idea (besides saving money) was that if every member had to occasionally do cleanup, they might do less “mess up” (at least they would be more conscious of inadvertently doing so). Some wards manage to spread the work around to avoid overburdening those in charge. Some are less successful.

I have often thought that the bishop should occasionally (at least once a year) discuss with each member how many hours he/she is spending on church assignments, and how this is affecting their other commitments (e. g, family), just to make sure they are not being overburdened. It is one thing to be specifically called upon to make major personal sacrifices to fulfill a church assignment. It is quite another to be, in effect, asked to make such sacrifices by a leader who had no intention of doing so.

[Tacenda]

I don't mind doing it, my family will clean this afternoon. The gentlemen in charge, HP group counselor, is usually there doing it with maybe his wife and another ward member. I see this because I'm there on Saturday to watch church ball and I'm glad to help. My husband did this for two years and it was sad to see the low count of members pitching in. But now in our ward it isn't a volunteer basis, the HP Group Leader is now just putting people on this list and then they get called the night before or earlier in the week to let them know it's their week. Well, this isn't going over that well IMO. So the only ones that do it over and over again usually are the same families. Or I'm in a bad mood today and want to complain.

[rpn]

My ward assigns a group of families every other month when it is responsible for cleaning (all the young men and young women do it on the fifth sunday weeks and they make it a party). I think they'd be smart to make it a group of families home taught by the same HTers so they could also develop bonds of friendship in the work.

I have no idea why the church made the change (and it was made a long time ago in some areas, at least 10 years where I live). But I do know that during tough times, some people had hard feelings about who was the one hired by the church, when lots of members were financially struggling, and how they were chosen. I also know lots of young people and not a few grownups whose care of the building has improved because they now see that someone has to clean it and it might be them. And we all know that giving our children opportunities to work is harder and harder all the time.

[volgadon]

I feel for whomever is in charge of this. So many times it falls on them and their families to do the job. Why did the church lay off the paid janitors? Was it that they thought the members of the church needed one more service? It's always the same people over and over that get stuck with jobs in the church because they'll do it. I'm sorry but I had to rant on this. When will the leaders see that this is being overextending?

I dunno, I served in one branch which had frequent fights and scandals, some of them quite serious, over the paid janitors. One family was paid to do it, so other families were upset, and would look for things to criticise and fight about. Of course, those hired to do the cleaning rubbed it in, a bit, too. In the end that position was taken away and all were assigned to clean.

[Saints Alive]

Luckily, I am in a ward that shares a building so we are only responsible for building cleaning every other month and we have enough families that the same family only cleans the building once every six months. However, if the church can build a billion dollar mall you would think they could afford janitors. It might not create many high paying jobs but it would create more jobs than a floundering shopping mall.

[Traela]

In our they also have the various organizations take a turn. So about once a month the YM/YW cleans after their activity (although that creates a different set of problems) and the Activity Day girls do it about once a quarter. I don't know about cub scouts and such. I believe the main idea is to create a sense of ownership and responsibility for the building.

[Garden Girl]

You are in the wrong ward then. In our ward it is by assignment. Seems to work well. Since its inception members seem to be less prone to litter.

In my ward also... ward members are assigned to cleaning teams. We have enough "teams" that each team cleans only every 10th week. Each team is given a schedule of the dates they are to clean... the team leader calls mid-week to remind each team member when their date comes up. It is expected that each team's members will participate... period. It works out well, and not just a few are left with the task.

GG

[Garden Girl]

Luckily, I am in a ward that shares a building so we are only responsible for building cleaning every other month and we have enough families that the same family only cleans the building once every six months. However, if the church can build a billion dollar mall you would think they could afford janitors. It might not create many high paying jobs but it would create more jobs than a floundering shopping mall.

[Tacenda]

I know it does make it so the members might take more ownership of the cleanliness of the building. I remember driving by a non LDS church building, much smaller in my neck of the woods, and admiring the gentleman who I believe may have been the Pastor, out cleaning the yard area and getting it ready to open up. I thought alot of that. So why am I having a problem? Sounds like our ward or stake needs an overhall on some planning. Our ward doesn't have the different auxillaries doing that and then the party afterward (RPN), cool.

[Saints Alive]

Im not sure how what you bolded and underlined is "beating a dead horse" since no one else has mentioned the cedar creek mall in this thread. Edited February 23, 2013 by Saints Alive

[Tacenda]

In my ward also... ward members are assigned to cleaning teams. We have enough "teams" that each team cleans only every 10th week. Each team is given a schedule of the dates they are to clean... the team leader calls mid-week to remind each team member when their date comes up. It is expected that each team's members will participate... period. It works out well, and not just a few are left with the task.

GG

I think the problem is the "no shows". I've witnessed this on several occasions. Once it was only my family cleaning the building. It's really odd, because otherwise we have an awesome ward.

[Garden Girl]

I agree with ERayR (post #4)... It's less about the money than the feeling of pride and ownership of our chapels.

GG

[Tacenda]

I agree with ERayR (post #4)... It's less about the money than the feeling of pride and ownership of our chapels.

GG

Why fire the janitors then? We use to clean the ward but not the deep cleaning, (toilets etc.).

[Saints Alive]

Why fire the janitors then? We use to clean the ward but not the deep cleaning, (toilets etc.).

Dont they still do deep cleaning once a year?

[Garden Girl]

Im not sure how what you bolded and underlined is "beating a dead horse" since no one has mentioned the cedar creek mall in this thread.

Didn't mention it by NAME?? You didn't have to... What other billion(?) dollar mall has the Church built... every time someone wants to make the type of point you did in your post, they drag out the reference to the CC Mall... named or not... ad nauseam.

GG

Reminds me of when I was a girl... anytime someone wanted to make a point about the gov't doing something etc... they'd say... If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we....dah dah dah dah dah.

Edited February 23, 2013 by Garden Girl

[Tacenda]

Dont they still do deep cleaning once a year?

I think there is someone who oversees or in charge of fixing things that break or the floors are deep cleaned once a year or more. Is that what you mean by deep cleaning?

[Saints Alive]

Didn't mention it by NAME?? You didn't have to... What other billion(?) dollar mall has the Church built... every time someone wants to make the type of point you did in your post, they drag out the reference to the CC Mall... named or not... ad nauseam.

GG

I think you need to look up the definition of beating a dead horse.

[Saints Alive]

I think there is someone who oversees or in charge of fixing things that break or the floors are deep cleaned once a year or more. Is that what you mean by deep cleaning?

Im not sure, I thought they had a company deep clean the whole building once a year. Maybe it is just the floors.

[Garden Girl]

I think you need to look up the definition of beating a dead horse.

No I don't...

Have a nice day... from the beach...

GG

[Kenngo1969]

Im not sure how what you bolded and underlined is "beating a dead horse" since no one has mentioned the cedar creek mall in this thread.

The Church built another one?! That's it! I'm sick to death of having my hard-earned tithing dollars squandered on big show projects! I'm leaving! Will the last person to leave the Church of Jesus Christ please turn out the lights?!

[Saints Alive]

No I don't...

Have a nice day... from the beach...

GG

Suit yourself.