This is my dear friend, Nena Caldwell from Vernal.  We met several years ago at the American Quilting Retreat.  Last March at the retreat, we introduced our Days for Girls project to the 120 quilters there.  (See http://annlaemmlenlewis.com/2014/03/23/130-women-130-sewing-machines-one-room/ ).  I love women who see a good thing, and then lose sleep over it until they can do something to help.  Nena is one of those women.   She invited us to come to Vernal months ago, then she studied every inch of the daysforgirls.org website, she trained teachers to teach others, and she organized a huge event–a Super Saturday Work Day in her LDS Stake.

This weekend we went to help Nena and to meet all of her friends.  As you can see below, a good deal of thought and preparation went into this all-day event.  About 200 women and girls came to help.  We had jobs for every single one.  Look at the faces of these dear sisters.  We had a ball!  It was a great day filled with smiles and love and service.  We assembled 342 kits and made 100s of parts and pieces for more.  We had a delicious lunch and a slide show about Days for Girls and kit distribution in Africa.

As you can see from everyone’s faces, we had a great day.  And at parting there were lots of hugs and expressions of thanks–for the blessings we enjoy, and for the opportunity to help others.  It doesn’t get much better than this.  Thanks to everyone who helped.  More lives will change because of what these kind women did today.  I was so proud to be there.

There are even more photos on our Days for Girls Utah Valley Facebook page (go to the albums) :  https://www.facebook.com/DaysforGirlsUtahValley

On Friday afternoon, before the Saturday event, we took a tour of Vernal.  My mother was a Smuin.  There is a whole branch of my Smuin family who lived and died in Vernal.  We visited the 2 cemeteries there, and also the Temple that was once the Pioneer Tabernacle my family members would have known and loved.