Local church members help others on Labor Day

Members of one Iowa City church took advantage of the holiday by gathering at the Coralville Lake to have a picnic and help those in need in Johnson County.

Led by Sondrae Fort, 65, of Iowa City, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Fourth Ward gathered a stockpile of party-related supplies in order to create 30 birthday bags for the Johnson County Crisis Center.

On Monday, the service project was finally able to take shape.

"Each year the Church asks the congregation to find some type of service project to work on to give back to the community," Fort said. "We thought that helping the crisis center by making birthday bags would be a great thing to do."

The collected items - dozens of cake pans, cake mixes, jars of frosting, candles, party favors and gifts for children between the ages of three and 15 were all donated to the cause after mass on Sundays.

Fort says that the main goal of the project was to provide all of the basic necessary supplies to throw a child's birthday party in case a local family had experienced a crisis or was financially unable to throw a celebration.

In total, 36 bags were assembled, marked by age appropriateness and then transported to the Johnson County Crisis Center by members of the congregation.

"The Crisis Center staff is excited to have a bunch of bags delivered that are all assembled and ready to go," Fort said. "We [the Congregation] are happy to have been able to help."