Press Release
Adrian and Jessica Florez of Salt Lake City have happily adjusted their regular work schedule in order to spend the majority of their time helping others for the next month. Cutting their work down to one day per week will allow them the opportunity to volunteer five days per week repairing the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Price, Utah.
“It’s a big exchange of encouragement because you get to see the sacrifices everyone else has made to be here,” said Adrian, a heavy construction tradesman who has worked on other similar volunteer projects. “We all have other things to do and places to be, but everyone is making the same sacrifice of their time to make themselves available. Working with an army of volunteers is a big energy boost and a morale boost.”
While the U.S. faces a worker shortage that Associated Builders and Contractors’ (ABC) Chief Economist Anirban Basu called “the most acute challenge facing the construction industry,” volunteers have kept Jehovah’s Witnesses’ building projects moving forward.
“Building places for true worship has been accomplished by volunteers since the days of Moses,” said Robert Hendriks, U.S. spokesperson for the Christian denomination best known for its door-to-door ministry. “They gave with a willing heart then and they do the same today. Tireless volunteers make these projects possible.”
When the Witnesses moved their world headquarters from Brooklyn, New York, upstate to the town of Warwick in recent years, the building project drew some 27,000 volunteers from across all 50 states. Among them was Tyler Ross, 36, who began volunteering on Witness construction projects alongside his father at a young age. “I always loved going to work on something I knew would have a positive impact in the community,” said Ross, “So when I first heard about the Warwick project, I was very excited.”
Over the course of some three years, Ross drove the 50-hour round-trip from Houston, Texas, to the construction site in Warwick three times to volunteer his carpentry skills.
“It was hard work, but the cheerful spirit of the workers made it enjoyable,” said Ross. “There were people from so many different cultures and backgrounds, all working together in harmony. It was really something to witness.”
Years later, Ross is still in touch with several fellow volunteers he met during his total four and a half months on the project. “Every crew I worked with felt like instant family,” he said. “I made memories and friendships I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
Aaron and Shelby Mitchell of Payson, Utah, have similarly taken a month off and volunteered their time, skills and even their own heavy equipment for the project.
“I love how these projects changed me and my viewpoint. It is so easy to be focused on our own lives, and what the future holds, and how we can prepare for that, but really these projects take that out of your hands and let you just trust,” said Mitchell. “We are building friendships and relationships with people we may not have had in the past.”
Since construction began in January, hundreds of Witness volunteers — young and old, skilled and unskilled — have come from the local congregation that will use the facility and from as far away as Kansas and Oregon. The project is slated for completion this fall.
For more information about Jehovah’s Witnesses, their history, beliefs and construction activities, visit their official website, jw.org, with content available in more than 1,000 languages.
