Members and missionaries of the Chesterfield congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints welcomed two very special guests on Sunday 1st February, Councillor Peter Barr the Chesterfield Borough Councillor who previously served as the Mayor and Cecilia Harper, the Honourary Poppy Appeal Organiser, who was previously the National Secretary of the Royal British Legion. Church members were presented with certificates of appreciation for their Poppy Appeal collection at Tesco Extra in Chesterfield.
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
Over 39 members and missionaries participated aged from 8 to 80 years old, and with help from Chesterfield Rotary club on Sundays so church members could attend worship services. In total over 200 man hours were donated to the appeal raising £3870.90. The Chesterfield appeal raised over £47,000 and corporate donations are still being made.
Councillor Peter Barr joined in the appeal following two Helping Hands projects by church members who went to perform landscaping tasks at the ancient Eyre Chapel in Newbold where Councillor Barr is a trustee. Everyone who participated felt that having Councillor Barr and Ceciliah Harper attend specially to present the certificates was a real show of appreciation for all concerned.
Bishop Mark Hamilton commented, "as followers of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice of a few hours each, to help those who sacrificed so much for our freedom to worship as we choose is something special for all involved. We thank Tesco Extra, the Rotary club and every single person for every penny donated."
Ceciliah Harper responded, "we thank you most sincerely and assure you the money collected will be used for the benefit of serving, ex-service personnel and their dependents."
Other recent charitable projects by members include clearing grounds at the Catholic St Patrick's Church Hall, filling shoe boxes with gifts for Operation Christmas child, making pillow slip dresses for little girls in Africa and the Young men performed Helping Hands Christmas hampers collecting, creating food items from donation points within businesses and supermarkets and distributing the food hampers to the needy.