Judex Okoro, Calabar
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has embarked on the cleaning of the premises of Police Training School, Odukapni LGA, Cross River State, as part of their annual community service project.
The church mobilised hundreds of its members, old and young, to keep some public institutions within Calabar metropolis clean.
Led by the president of Calabar North Stake of the church, Victor Bassey, they went about their chores with machetes, shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows cutting overgrown weeds and clearing debris.
Speaking shortly after the exercise, Bassey said, “It is a regular church community service project and we do it annually as our own little contribution to community service in society. We observed that this place needed to be supported. You can see that the entire college is big. Even if you employ gardeners to do this work, I don’t think they will succeed in getting it done, especially now that they are about reopening.”
THe initiative was meant to assist the community wherever needs exist, Bassey said.
“So, we deemed it necessary to come and render our own support. There is much to be done. We are just trying to do the little we can to assist. It is a good choice. The community feels it. They are grateful.
“We just think about where to work. It is all about where our attention is needed. It could be a marketplace, bridge, around the streets. It could be in public institutions like this. This is a big community.
“We also engage in other community service. If you go to Ikot Eneobong, the road that leads from the market down to the church was constructed by the church. As we speak, we are about commencing a project on Ikot Eneobong ravine, which will gulp millions. About three years ago, we carried out community service at the teaching hospital, where the charity department of the church donated medical items to paediatricians in the hospital,” he said.
According to Bassey, their community service was not restricted to Calabar, but cuts across the West African sub-region, all in a bid to serve the people for the benefit of humanity.
One of the police cadets, Inyang Ebong, said: “This is a commendable gesture and it has been long we witnessed anything like it. We enjoin the church to keep it and also extend it to other police barracks to help clean up the environment and make it safe for people to inhabit.”