MORGAN HILL, CALIF.
The Morgan Hill California Stake took advantage of four local festivals within its stake boundaries, to promote the Church’s website www.familysearch.org, and family history.
Members of the stake’s public affairs council and family history consultants worked together on four successful booths.
The first booth was coordinated in mid-July for the Street Festival in Hollister, Calif. Sister Tonia Sunseri worked the family history booth while Sister Elaine Kovanda served watermelon at a second booth. Sister Kovanda has coordinated the watermelon booth for many years and Sister Sunseri created and staffed the family history booth with various volunteers.
The focus for the Hollister event was “old-fashioned” reflecting the past. Children’s packets were also created and distributed throughout the day.
On Sept. 18, Bille Grandy from the Bernal Ward in San Jose, CA, organized a booth for the local Community Fest event, with the help of Debbie Torrens from San Jose 16th Ward.
Computers were set up with the capability to register people for the www.new.familysearch.org website so they could begin using the links available at this time. Small bottles of water, with labels listing the website address, were also given out. Again, children’s packets were compiled, as well as adult packets, which included a four-generation family sheet and a tri-fold brochure listing the locations of family history centers in the Bay Area, from San Benito County to Alameda County.
The booth then moved to Morgan Hill, Calif., for the annual Taste of Morgan Hill event held September 25 and 26. Diana Dufur, Mike Hickey, Cathy Mirelez and Jennifer Howard were on hand, with other volunteers from surrounding wards in Morgan Hill and Gilroy, to pass out both sets of packets and answer questions from visitors. Workers emphasized that children could also access the website to research their ancestors, and create family history books of their own.
A 72-hour kit, supplied from the American Red Cross in San Jose, was also displayed with information to help encourage families to create their own kits, and to be better prepared in the event of an earthquake or other natural disaster. Between the San Jose and Morgan Hill events, 300 adult packets were distributed, along with 500 children’s packets with balloons and crayons included.
The final booth was in San Benito, at the County Fair held Oct. 1-3. Romona Starkweather, the family history center’s consultant, set up and organized the booth with volunteers for the three-day event. This booth was also set to an old-fashioned theme, coinciding with the county fair theme. Computers were available at this booth, as well, and volunteers helped visitors navigate the website, giving them a preview of the many programs available. A large world map was on exhibit, on which visitors could find locations of relatives and ancestors worldwide.
More than 600 children’s and adult packets were given out to those attending the fair.
“Working together to help spread the Church’s mission has been a wonderful experience” Sister Dufur said. “We are hoping that these efforts will encourage people to take a look back at their ancestors and to catch the spirit of Elijah.
