The Seattle Center was a busy hub of activity during Labor Day weekend as a popular music and arts festival kicked off in the shadow of the Space Needle.
Just outside the festival, 125 Adventist volunteers of all ages were twisting balloon creations for children, distributing 1,100 water bottles, giving away whistles with disaster preparedness information, and providing basic health screening.
"Most people wanted to know the catch," says Kelia Cook, 14, from Chehalis, Wash. "We said that we just wanted to do something nice for them."
Elsewhere, volunteers assembled food bags at the Emergency Feeding Program and prepared sack lunches for a homeless feeding program run by Maranatha Adventist Church.
"I was afraid of what we would encounter [in the city], and I prayed all week that God would change my heart," says April TeNijenhuis, from Graham, Wash. "I learned that people don't care what you know unless you show them you care."
"God is challenging us to step out of our comfort zones," says Byron Dulan, Washington Conference outreach ministries director and event coordinator. "The challenge we have as a church is that we keep most of the good that we have within the four walls of our church."
Robert Renfroe, from Volunteer Park Church, worked with other volunteers to assemble food packages at the Emergency Feeding Program in Seattle. (Heidi Martella)
Kent (Wash.) members return from the Seattle Center after distributing disaster information packets with whistles. (Colette Newer)
Jenny Samuels, from the Mt. Tahoma (Wash.) Church, offers free health screenings for passersby in Seattle Center. (Colette Newer)
Nessy Pittau, Washington Conference health director, reads health screening results in Seattle Center. (Colette Newer)
Kelvin Wallin, from Chehalis Adventist Church, shapes balloon creations to hand out to children outside of a popular arts and music festival in Seattle Center. (Heidi Martella)
Charles Crevison from the Auburn (Wash.) City Church makes the day for two young girls in the Seattle Center by giving them balloon creations. (Heidi Martella)
Carolyn Brown, center, gives instructions to volunteers outside of the Maranatha Adventist Church in preparation for distributing lunch sacks to the homeless in Seattle. (Jonathan Baumgartner)
