Service
Don’t miss the energy and excitement of our annual Evening of Service! It will take place on Thursday, May 1, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Richards Building and the Smith Fieldhouse. Service projects are open to all BYU Women’s Conference participants, including those who register for Wednesday evening only or Friday only.
Whether you’re able to help for 20 minutes or three hours, we need you! All materials will be provided, and all completed projects will be donated to members of our community in need. Please plan to attend and help us complete the following projects:
- List of projects coming in February.
Stories of Service
We want to hear about YOUR experiences with service and the profound effects they have had! You can share the following:
- a memory of participating in a BYU Women's Conference service project
- photos, video, audio, or written accounts of your service experience
- a recent opportunity you have had to lift those around you
- a time when you were the recipient of meaningful service
Share Your Story (coming soon)
- Read our Service History.
- View our Project Tutorials.
- Visit our Sharing Stations archives (coming soon).
- Watch our 2021 service broadcast on our YouTube channel.
Project Tutorials
We hope this resource will be helpful to you as you plan service activities to meet needs in your own community. These free project tutorials are based on projects completed at past BYU Women’s Conference events. We encourage you to use and share them as a means of completing service projects or for personal use. You may not use these tutorials for commercial purposes. View available project tutorials below.
Looking for a project you’ve seen at BYU Women’s Conference? We will continue to add to this library as additional tutorials become available, so check back often.
Additional project ideas can be found on our Pinterest boards. If you would like to share a pattern or tutorial you have created or for which you own rights, please email wcservice@byu.edu.
Adult Personal Care Kits
These everyday essentials can help provide those in need with a brighter outlook on life and better overall health.
Adult Personal Care Kit Instructions
Beanie Bunnies
These cuddly handmade stuffed animals will bring comfort and joy to children who are taken from their homes or are in other crisis circumstances.
Beanie Bunny Instructions
Christmas Stockings
Christmas stockings bring glad tidings of great joy to children, teens, and adults who cannot be home for the holidays. Share in the Christmas spirit as you hand sew the edges of the stockings and embellish them with darling decorations and lots of love!
Christmas Tree StockingRibbon Christmas Stocking
Santa Christmas Stocking
Courage Cape
Up, up, and away! These courage capes will bring hope and joy to little boys and girls in crisis centers and hospitals.
Courage Cape InstructionsCrown
Layered Star
Letter in Shield
Star in Shield
Lightning Bolt
Two Stars
Crocheted Burp Cloths
Help to welcome the newest spirits into the world by crocheting around the edge of a flannel burp cloth. Burp cloths can be given to mothers and babies who will treasure such a soft, sweet token of love.
Crochet-Edge Burp Cloth TemplateCrocheted Burp Cloth Instructions
Crocheted Headbands
Your handmade touch will give added warmth this winter to elderly sisters, at-risk women, and teens. Crochet a colorful headband that is sure to bring cheer and keep the recipients feeling toasty warm all winter long.
Mesh headband with Flower and ButtonCrocheted Ridge Headband with Button
Crocheted Wide Warming Headband
Crocheted Headband with Knot
Crocheted Scarves
In the cold winter months ahead, there are many who will need special care. When “the weather outside is frightful,” there is nothing like a crocheted scarf made by gentle hands to make someone feel warm and loved.
Cozy Scarf InstructionsBasic Double Scarf Instructions
Fairy Wands
“And they lived happily ever after” is a storybook ending, but it doesn't always happen in real life. These cheerful wands can spark the imagination and help bring joy to little girls who are in crisis.
Tulle Fairy Wand InstructionsTwo Star Fairy Wand Instructions
Small Star Template
Large Star Template
Feeding Children Everywhere Meal Packets
In just minutes, assemble healthy, hearty meals for hungry families.
Feeding Children Everywhere BrochureFeeding Children Everywhere Info
Fleece Blankets
Wrap your heart in a cozy feeling of comfort and love while serving someone in need! Fringe and knot these no-sew fleece blankets.
Tied Fleece Blankets TutorialCutting Template
Greeting Cards
There is nothing more welcome than a cheerful card! Use your talents to help create cards for all occasions. These special cards can be given to rest homes, youth centers, and other community agencies to help individuals feel loved and to foster communication within families.
Greeting Card InstructionsGreeting Card Kit Instructions
Happy Pillows
Scatter sunshine by making a Happy Pillow kit for a child in the hospital or in a crisis situation. You can spread joy and love with this soft and smiling pillow friend.
Children's Kit InstructionsHappy Pillow Embellishments
Pie Pattern Template Instructions
Happy Pillow Kit Assembly Instructions
Infant Fleece Blankets
Crochet once around the edge of these sweet flannel blankets for newborn babies born to underprivileged moms.
Infant Fleece Blanket InstructionsInfant Flannel Blanket Instructions
Loomed Hats
This delightful craft is easy to learn and enjoyable to do! Loomed hats are a cozy way to brighten and warm the lives of those who receive them.
Loomed Hat Instructions
Owl Friends
If you need a soft hug, wrap your arms around these adorable owls. The owls are used by bereavement centers and agencies that assist children in crisis situations. These owls have a soothing effect on those who are in special need of comfort.
Owl Friends Printable InstructionsPrintable Pattern
Pocket Hearts
Share your heart with someone in need by stitching a pocket heart! These stuffed hearts are soft and comforting to children and adults who are in hospital environments or in the middle of a crisis.
Pocket Heart InstructionsPocket Heart Pattern
Pocket Heart Kit Instructions
Tag Blankets
In this simple sewing project, you will make a colorful sensory item for infants and toddlers.
Tag Blanket InstructionsTag Blanket Heart Template
Toy Car Activity Kits
With cars, coloring books, traffic signs, and movable road pieces, these interactive kits are sure to bring happiness to young children in crisis.
Toy Car Activity Kit TutorialPrintable Patterns
Road Signs for Cubes
Road Tile Templates
Walker and Wheelchair Bags
Help meet the needs of elderly patients in rest homes and hospitals as you bring them a simple yet important gift.
Men's Walker Bag InstructionsMen's Wheelchair Bag Instructions
Women's Walker Bag Instructions
Women's Wheelchair Bag Instructions
Wheelchair Bag Sewing Instructions
Walker Bag Sewing Instructions
Get Started
By first observing the needs around us, we can better serve our brothers and sisters.
Before selecting service projects, we are encouraged to first observe, then serve. Sister Linda K. Burton taught:
“Sometimes we are tempted to serve in a way that we want to serve and not necessarily in the way that is needed at the moment. When Elder Robert D. Hales taught the principle of provident living, he shared the example of buying a gift for his wife. She asked, “Are you buying this for me or for you? ” If we adapt that question to ourselves as we serve and ask, “Am I doing this for the Savior, or am I doing this for me?” our service will more likely resemble the ministry of the Savior. The Savior asked, and so should we, “What will ye that I shall do unto you?”
The following resources may help you in your efforts to identify opportunities to serve those around you in meaningful ways.
Additional Resources
- First Observe, Then Serve
- JustServe
- Visit the Just Serve website to find volunteer needs in your own community or list.
- Messages from our Leaders
Women's Conference Service History
BYU Women’s Conference attendees have been building a tremendous spiritual legacy through service, blessing the lives of those participating and countless members of our local community for 24 years. Each year, an army of dedicated women seek to “first observe, then serve” as we identify and then strive to meet critical local needs. In partnership with Latter-day Saint Charities and local hospitals, homeless shelters, schools, assisted living centers, crisis nurseries, and other agencies, our projects offer significant help to those battling homelessness, hunger, addiction, abuse, illness, loss, loneliness, and so much more. This labor of love highlights the extraordinary goodness of the Relief Society sisters and the capacity we have to be a force for good in the world. Since 1999 more than a million items made at BYU Women's Conference have been sent across the state and world, as we focus on serving at the conference.
Each year about 1,200 volunteer team members complete all the necessary pre-conference work (cutting, sewing, hemstitching, organizing, and setting up kits items, etc.) and supervise 12 to 20 different projects during the conference. “Take, Make, and Return” kits were distributed at the Marriott Center (from 2003 to 2019) and completed across campus while sisters worked on projects as they attended classes and talked with friends old and new. Each year, each team assembled 500–1,000 kits of handmade items such as Christmas stockings, courage capes, teddy bears, infant fleece blankets, greeting cards, wheelchair bags, crocheted scarves, and other items and handed them out to waiting hands each conference morning.
Currently, the conference hosts an annual Evening of Service (2001 to the present) where sisters can help complete a variety of large-scale projects. In 2019, we assembled 350,000 meal kits, 22,034 school supply kits, 13,308 hygiene kits, and 6,388 fleece blankets, all in just three short hours.
It is inspiring to see miracles accomplished each year as thousands of women joyfully give of themselves. Those who serve at BYU Women’s Conference return to their homes and communities throughout the world with an increased awareness of the needs of others and a greater desire and determination to serve those around them. We encourage sisters everywhere to find and fill local needs by visiting JustServe.org and using project tutorials available on this page.
