Do Something More

Looking for service projects beyond the ordinary? Here are some good examples.

Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.

Then wake up and do something more
Than dream of your mansion above.
Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure,
A blessing of duty and love

(Hymns, 1985, no. 223).

It’s BYC (Bishopric Youth Committee) meeting again, and it’s your turn to come up with a great idea for a service project. Problem is, what can you do that’s new? You’ve done yard work and Secret Sisters and Secret Grandparents and 12 Days of Christmas. The Young Women already baby-sit so sisters can attend homemaking night. The Aaronic Priesthood already has a schedule for shoveling snow and helping clean up around the chapel. You’ve written letters to all the missionaries, washed windows a dozen times, and caroled at every rest home in town. There’s only one widow in the ward, and you’ve painted her house twice.

But you know that the bishop’s going to turn to you and say, “Okay, we need some great ideas for service. Something that will help the youth see that service is a blessing and a pleasure.”

You know you’ll be tempted to say, “But we’ve already done everything!” And you know someone else will ask, “Besides, when can we just have some fun?”

Don’t panic. Here’s just what you need. Ten great ideas that have worked well for others, and have taught youth that service can be (honestly) exciting. Share them with the bishop. Share them with the BYC. Start talking and thinking and planning and preparing. Adapt the ideas to your own circumstances, and by the end of the meeting, you’ll be ready to sing the rest of the hymn:

There are chances for work all around just now,
Opportunities right in our way.
Do not let them pass by, saying, “Sometime I’ll try,”
But go and do something today. …