Lake Ridge Church Counts 400 Waiting at Door for Charity Event

Church fills tables with linen, toys, games for community

On Friday, Sept. 12, the chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Old Bridge Road in Woodbridge, filled with 120 teens and many adults preparing for the annual community Gifts of the Heart event. 

Sister Pam Gauch, the Relief Society President for the local Woodbridge Virginia Stake, addressed them briefly to explain the spiritual nature of the service they were about to perform.

“The important thing is to keep things moving,” said Gauch.

The youth, some of whom were not of the LDS faith, then spent the next two hours unloading donated items from cars, trunks, and the backs of minivans. Soon tables in the large church gym were piled with clothes, another room filled with shoes, others with linens, toys and games.  Well over 1,100 volunteer hours went into orchestrating this year’s Gifts of the Heart clothing exchange, a free event open to the public that is done in conjunction with the Day to Serve project. 

The community donated all of the items available at the exchange. Additionally, during Gifts of the Heart, the community also donated over 240 pounds of food for the Action in Community Through Service (ACTS) food pantry.

“This year I brought a friend from school.  It’s a good representation of what our church is about: family, service, the pure love of Christ,” said Rebecca Prymak, a 16-year-old junior at Gar-Field Senior High School.  This was her fourth year volunteering during Gifts of the Heart. A total of 148 youth, and 264 adults volunteered to make the event possible.

When the doors opened the next day at 9 a.m., there were over 400 people in line.  Many had come early, in hopes of finding certain needed items. 

“If you’re looking for something you really need, you’ll find it here,” said volunteer Will Marda, of Lake Ridge. 

“This is our fourth time coming.  If something doesn’t fit, we always pass it on.  This year we’re looking for winter coats and shoes,” said Michelle Sackrider, sifting through the wares. 

“It’s a beautiful thing to do, especially for free, it helps everyone,” said Digna Ruiz, through a translator, of Woodbridge.

This was her second year benefiting from items that the community donated to Gifts of the Heart. By the time the event ended, and all of the left-over, donated clothing and other things were packed into a truck for AmVets, more than 1,150 people were able to shop the Gifts of the Heart exchange.

Editors note: This story was submitted by the community relations department at the Church of Latter Day Saints in Woodbridge.