Although Wednesdays are usually known as the halfway point to the work week, the "hump day," in the unassuming community of Mt. Pleasant, Utah, Wednesdays mean something very different: an opportunity to serve.

Three stakes combine weekly to donate their time and talents in various service projects. The projects range from hygiene kits to toys, medical dolls to quilts, and all are done with a smile.

Linda Levitt, a founder of the project, described how it has grown.

It began as a stake activity six years ago. Then the stake's humanitarian leader, Levitt would meet monthly with ward humanitarian leaders and call the LDS Humanitarian Center to see what projects needed doing. Soon, she and her husband, Keith, were called as humanitarian missionaries and given special instruction to see to the humanitarian needs of the entire area.

"That has really helped, to be a service missionary and know that you're supposed to serve the whole area," Levitt said.

The weekly meeting of the service group was based on a demonstration the Levitts saw of a similar group, taking the idea and running. "If they can do it, why can't we?" she said they asked themselves. At first, all the projects could be neatly loaded into their living room until their monthly trip to the Bishop's Storehouse in Moroni. Now their house and porch are packed enough to require taking a load once or twice a week.

With three stakes, 19 wards and an average of 35 people weekly, the group serves a wide variety of causes and areas, from local and statewide needs to projects shipped overseas, particularly to the Middle East, she said. Each February, the group throws a baby shower for their local hospital, making sure every baby born will be able to have a new set of clothes and a blanket. Another project they do for the hospital is to make medical dolls for children needing surgery or other major medical procedures, said James Hendrickson, another service missionary helping with the weekly gathering.

Medical dolls are blank dolls that the doctors use to illustrate to a child what they will do during the operation. After the operation, the nurses draw a happy face on one side and a sad face on the other to better help the child express how they are feeling and where it hurts by turning or pointing to the doll accordingly, Hendrickson said. This helps them feel more at ease about the purpose for their hospital visit.

"After they get done talking with them, the children are kind of over their apprehension about it," he said.

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This story is provided by the LDS Church News, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is produced weekly by the Deseret News.