Peninsula youth take part in Valentines Road Rally combining fun and service

Vroom vroom!  A Valentines Road Rally last Saturday, February 6, offered some safe and socially distanced fun for the youth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in Menlo Park. 

After nearly a year of Zoom school away from their friends, some 60 young people aged 11-18, hailing from San Carlos to Palo Alto, rallied to five “secret” locations around town.  With their parents and siblings in tow, the event engaged over 150 masked and joy-filled people over the course of the afternoon event.

Rally stop #1 was Trinity (Episcopal) Church in Menlo Park (pictured top), where the LDS youth dropped off bags of food for hungry neighbors.  “Seeing all the food at the food drive made me feel happy that we could participate in something bigger to help others,” said middle schooler MeiLin Hansen.

Clever clues led ralliers on to their own church campus on Valparaiso in Menlo Park, then on to the Shake Shack at the Stanford Shopping Center. The Rally took an intercultural turn at the bright yellow “OY/YO” sculpture in front of Stanford’s Cantor Art Center. 

Last stop was the organizer’s home on the Stanford campus, where each “rallier” received a homemade Valentine cookie and a treat bag to drop off to someone who needs a lift right now.

Note: Food donations for Trinity’s Season of Gleaning program are accepted every Tuesday – rain or shine – from 8:00 am to noon in the Trinity parking lot at 330 Ravenswood.  

Top photo by Robb Most (c) 2021; Yo photo courtesy of LDS organizers