Jacob Chrisohoou of Rotorua, New Zealand listened to a sermon given at his church recently. The message centred around doing good for others without being assigned or asked.
Touched by the message, Jacob, a youth leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, decided to get the young men he mentors involved in a food drive hoping to get them in the spirit of freely giving.
Photo Courtesy of NZ Herald
"We put out feelers to see how many groceries we could collect and sent messages to people we knew who might be willing to donate spare items from their cupboards," said Chrisohoo
Hearing of the young men's project, the young women and their leaders from the Church decided to join in.
The Rotorua Daily Post spotted their pleas and now their good work will be donated to the newspaper's Christmas Appeal.
"Everyone's been great, but it's really hard to ask for stuff as well. We know everyone is struggling at this time of year so we have been grateful for what we have received," said Jacob.
Read More in the New Zealand Herald here.
On December 1, 2017, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints launched the #LightTheWorld service initiative. This campaign hopes to inspire others to serve their friends, neighbours and those in need "in 25 ways over 25 days."
Sharable online content is available at mormon.org, including a new inspirational video in 33 languages and a service advent calendar to encourage the public to follow Christ’s teachings during the Christmas season.