Over 97 gathered from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to package bags for Thanksgiving dinner bags for South County Outreach in Lake Forest.
Grateful Youth Help Package Food for the Needy
After the successful food drive in August 2011, South County Outreach (SCO) asked youth from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) to help on a holiday project for the less fortunate in Orange County, California. On October 11th, 97 members of the LDS church converged on the SCO warehouse to package 271 holiday food bags for the needy.
The holiday bags consisted of stuffing mix, yams or potatoes, cranberries, vegetables, ingredients to make pumpkin pie, and donated turkeys provided by Mission Hospital. South County Outreach wants hungry families in Orange County to enjoy a nice holiday meal together.
In the planning stages, the LDS youth leaders were a little worried that the facility couldn’t handle so many youth, but Nora Dopudja, Directors of Operations, said she could handle it. Upon first walking into the warehouse, it seemed a little chaotic that night with such a flurry of activity. Some youth carrying heavy boxes from the storage warehouse, others collecting food from the shelves, leaders directing traffic and many youth bagging food into paper grocery bags on the massive tables in the middle of the warehouse.
After the 271 bags were complete, Nora Dopudja of SCO, climbed on a tall rolling ladder to tell her personal story to the attentive standing youth. She told the youth in attendance that her life is so much happier now that she is making a difference in people’s lives. She explained that many of the working poor really struggle in South County because rent is so expensive. She claimed that 1 out of 6 children in Orange County go to bed hungry. Cindy LeSueur, the Young Women Activities Specialist for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said, “I knew that the event was a success when Jordan Gold, one of our LDS youth, gave the closing prayer and said, ‘Please bless those less fortunate and thank you so much that we never go to bed hungry.’ I knew at that moment – they go it. “
