NEED TO KNOW
- An Oklahoma couple decided to forego a pre-wedding party and instead invited their wedding guests to join them for some community service
- Maria Carmona and Kent Sands told KTUL that their fourth date was volunteering at Night Light Tulsa, a weekly outreach program that provides food and other services to the unhoused community
- “We leave kind of fulfilled, making a small difference, just being part of something bigger, and it’s just a good thing that we’ve enjoyed doing,” Sands said of their volunteer work
Rather than kick off their wedding weekend with a party or night night out on the town, one Oklahoma couple decided to invite their wedding guests to join them for some community service.
Soon-to-be-married couple Maria Carmona and Kent Sands shared that they wanted to do something before tying the knot that they had done in their early days of dating, per Tusla outlet KTUL — volunteering to serve the local unhoused community.
“For us, it was definitely one of the three things we planned out. We got a venue, and then the church, and then this was the next thing. We were like, we have to do it,” Carmona told the outlet.
Carmona and Sands decided to give their time — as well as $1,000 in sponsorship donations — to Tulsa’s City Lights Foundation. The organization operates a program called Night Light Tulsa, a weekly outreach program that provides food and other services to the unhoused community under a bridge near the city’s Maybelle Avenue and Reconciliation Way.
“Every time we’ve just had a lot of fun,” Sands said, speaking about the couple’s frequent volunteer work. “We leave kind of fulfilled, making a small difference, just being part of something bigger, and it’s just a good thing that we’ve enjoyed doing.”
The couple first signed up to volunteer with the program on their fourth date back in 2021, and have since become regulars.
“We showed up under the bridge not knowing what to expect—but left feeling deeply moved,” the couple said. “We prayed with others, heard powerful stories, and quickly realized this was something we wanted to keep doing together. Over the years, we’ve returned many times, bundled up on freezing nights, mixing hot cocoa and coffee, and sharing small moments of connection.”
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Night Light crews get together to serve the Tulsa community every Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.. According to Carmona, this is the first time an engaged couple has decided to volunteer at the event — but she hopes it isn’t the last.
“I was really shocked that this is the first time a couple has done this,” Carmona told KTUL. “So we just, you know, encouraged other couples to do it.”
“Maybe not the week of your wedding,” she added with a laugh, “but leading up to it.”
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