Our young musicians from schools across Utah nominated families they knew were in need this Christmas and then donated goods and delivered them as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ #LightTheWorld initiative. The whole process was captured in this inspiring video that includes the group figuratively sending their lights into the world at the Lantern Festival.

Families served included a pregnant mother undergoing cancer treatments with two young children at home; a widow of 15 years who just lost her best friend and roommate; a young family (children ages 2, 7, and 8) that just went through a painful divorce; and two families with children at home who recently lost a parent to cancer. The giving was all done anonymously and funded by the students themselves. It was humbling to see how many just in our small circle of influence were struggling with truly heavy burdens. One of the most common questions we get on this video is why don’t we see the doors open and the reaction of the recipient? The answer is, that we wanted the service to be as pure and anonymous as possible. The doors you see in the video are not the actual doors of those who received the baskets. We did all the giving anonymously and privately because we wanted to respect and help those in need as genuinely as we could, not use them as a prop in a video. The result, was a service experience that our students and those families will not soon forget!

This video is the third in a series of Light the World videos released by the Lyceum Philharmonic at American Heritage School. Other releases include Candlelight Carol and Ave Maria featuring Lexi Walker.