The welfare program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (otherwise known as the Mormon Church or LDS Church) is unique in all the world, in fact, unique in the history of the world! This video also includes clips of several nationally televised recognitions of the program as well as the changes (now ‘Self-Reliance Services’) that happened in 2012, which put the program on steroids!!
Speaker 1:
On this video in the Evidence series, I want to talk about the welfare program of the Church. This program, I don’t think there’s anything like it in the world. In fact, I don’t think there’s been anything like it in the history of the world.
Speaker 1:
And as I show you some clips from some national televised programs on the Church welfare program, I want you just to think about that. And then at the end of the video, I want to talk about some changes made in 2012 that have put the welfare program on steroids basically.
Speaker 1:
So first let’s start with a clip from Elder Glenn Rudd, who used to be the director of the welfare program.
Glenn Rudd:
I think I would not be exaggerating when I say there’s nothing on this earth comparable to the welfare program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. People from all over the world have come here and have said this is the greatest thing they’ve seen in America.
Speaker 1:
Okay, now I’d like to share a couple of little quotes. So on the Church Newsroom website in September 2008, they talked about the welfare system, which was established by President Grant in 1936. President Grant said, “The system under under which the curse of idleness will be done away with, the evils or the dole abolished, and independence, thrift, and self-respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help people help themselves.” This was during the Great Depression times.
Speaker 1:
The system endures today. It’s a two-way system. “It is not a handout. The bishop gives the needy individual or family assignments to work for the assistance they receive. The work might include cleaning a church building or using skills to help someone else in need. Fulfilling these assignments helps those receiving assistance to maintain their dignity and self-respect and provides a way for them to give back. Our system thrives on volunteerism. People come often to visit Welfare Square and ask how we get people to volunteer.”
Speaker 1:
And if you look on this infographic the Church put out a little bit about the program, once a month, church members fast for two consecutive meals and then donate the money from those meals to the Church to use in this program, in a welfare program. If you think about this, if this was done throughout the world, it would solve the hunger problems throughout the world.
Speaker 1:
And also, there’s volunteers. If you look on the screen at the bottom, each year, thousands of welfare service volunteers donate more than seven million hours to the Church’s food production and other welfare facilities.
Speaker 1:
If you look also on the screen here, the Church has 136 storehouses, 115 employment centers, 51 farms and ranches, 82 family service offices, 42 thrift stores with employment training opportunities, and 12 food production facilities.
Speaker 1:
It also provides disaster relief. If you look at the graph here, 132 emergency response projects in 60 countries, and they’re proactive in humanitarian assistance in 131 countries with more than 10 million beneficiaries around the world.
Speaker 1:
If you look at the screen here of the various areas where the Church also provides help to those in need, “Mobilizes for natural man-made disasters; provides humanitarian assistance with disaster relief, maternal and newborn care and immunization, wheelchair, clean water, and and vision support; improves agricultural and medical practices; organizes addiction recovery groups; supports employment training and opportunities; supervises welfare projects; and partners with governments, nonprofit organizations, and businesses.”
Speaker 1:
And if you … I wanted to share a scripture I love with relation to this. It’s in Isaiah 58. You think about what the Church is doing in this respect, Isaiah 58 talks about a true fast. He says, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring us the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning.”
Speaker 1:
I wanted to show you a couple of clips here. Even, the welfare program has been studied by governments. Here’s a clip that was shown on PBS.
Speaker 3:
That concept has grown to helping not only members but non-members through humanitarian aid worldwide. And it’s apparently been done very well. This is Richard Humphreys, the manager of the Bishop’s Storehouse.
Richard Humphreys:
We’ve had the Department of Defense, we’ve had the Army, the Navy, the Marines, FEMA, they’ve all come out, and they say, “Wherever we go, we’ve been told, ‘Go see how the Mormons do it, because they’re always the first ones on the site.'”.
Speaker 3:
After Katrina smashed into New Orleans, Mormon convoys were the first to arrive with 450 truck loads.
Richard Humphreys:
As that hurricane was circling around in the Gulf of Mexico, we didn’t know where it was going to come inland. So we formed a big semi-circle that ran from Texas to South Carolina, and as soon as that hurricane hit New Orleans, those trucks were sent out, and they were there within hours.
Speaker 3:
Those trucks have a beehive on the side, a symbol very important to Mormonism. It is said to represent industry, harmony, order, frugality, and the sweet results of toil.
Speaker 3:
And these people are busy bees on the churches, farms, and ranches that are some of the largest in the US, in their canneries and processing plants. And the fruit of this labor is given away. Well, not exactly given. Those who can are required to work for it.
Speaker 1:
And here’s another video clip from Ted Koppel, the journalist, that talked about emergency preparedness. In fact, he wrote three chapters in his book on this about members of the Church.
Ted Koppel:
The truth of the matter is that no one, if we’re talking about a group of hundreds of thousands or millions of people, there is no group that is totally capable of dealing with a situation without electricity for a period of months at a time. But among those who have made preparations, I would say that the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Mormons, as they’re known, are better prepared than any other group in the country.
Ted Koppel:
Mormon families are encouraged to have food supplies, water supplies of up to six months to a year, each family. There is an organization within the church that already exists that’s going to be more capable of dealing with that kind of a disaster than any other group that I’ve come across in the country.
Ted Koppel:
And for that reason, I devoted some three chapters in my book to talking about the Mormons, because I think they serve as an excellent example for people to make their own preparations. You’re not going to be able to duplicate it, but the Mormons are worth studying.
Speaker 1:
So let me share this quote now from the Presiding Bishop at the time, Bishop Burton, in April 2011 General Conference. This was the 75-year anniversary of the beginning of the welfare program.
Speaker 1:
He said, “75 years ago, a system devoted to the spiritual and temporal salvation of mankind rose from humble beginnings. Since that time, it has ennobled and blessed the lives of tens of millions of people throughout the world. The prophetic welfare plan is not merely an interesting footnote in the history of the Church, the principles upon which it is based define who we are as a people. It is the essence of who we are as individual disciples of our Savior and Exemplar, Jesus, the Christ. The work of caring for one another and being kind to the poor is a sanctifying work commanded of the Father, and divinely designed to bless, refine, and exalt his children.”
Speaker 1:
Now, I want to show you an amazing clip, four minutes of spiced-in pieces from a nationally televised program a few years ago, Rock Center with Brian Williams, on the welfare program of the Church, this segment.
Speaker 6:
… big way. This is a rare look into the Utah bishop’s central warehouse in Salt Lake City.
Speaker 7:
There’s sugar, there’s salt, there’s wheelchairs, there’s toilet paper.
Speaker 6:
A half million square-foot monument to the Mormon commitment to helping others.
Speaker 7:
This is crazy.
Speaker 6:
Rick Foster is a manager of the Church’s welfare operations.
Speaker 7:
It looks to me like there’s almost everything in here to sustain human life. Is that an exaggeration?
Speaker 8:
It is not at all. Nothing extravagant, but basic commodities that you’d find in any grocery store.
Speaker 7:
This would make the people from Costco jealous I think. It almost seems endless.
Speaker 6:
And almost everything in here was produced by the Church for charity, not for profit. The Mormon industrial complex was created to perpetuate self-reliance.
Speaker 8:
We grow a lot of our products on farms, raise cattle on ranches, fruit in our orchards.
Speaker 6:
There’s enough food and supplies here to support the Church’s welfare efforts for an entire year, and to attend to natural disasters around the world.
Speaker 7:
This is mind-boggling.
Speaker 6:
The peaches and turkey chunks from this warehouse are trucked to 110 regional storehouses around the country. Not far from the Bishop’s Storehouse is a place called Welfare Square, where Mormon volunteers turn Mormon milk into Mormon cheese.
Speaker 9:
Do you like it?
Speaker 7:
Yeah, it’s really good.
Speaker 9:
Yeah, we can probably get you a block. We’ll put…
Speaker 6:
It’s a veritable showplace of Mormon generosity, even dripping in Mormon honey.
Speaker 7:
Is it hot?
Speaker 10:
Yes.
Speaker 6:
And that Mormon honey will taste great on this fresh-baked Mormon bread. Mormon volunteer Louise Oldroid said this to me, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could solve the world’s problems with a loaf of bread?” Indeed.
Speaker 6:
And to receive a loaf of bread and more, all a needy Mormon has to do is ask. Local bishops like Kirk Green sign off on a form which is even better than cash.
Speaker 11:
There’s tuna, beef stew, there’s some meats.
Speaker 7:
There’s a list?
Speaker 11:
Yeah. Yeah, we actually … There’s actually a Bishop’s Order Form, which is like a shopping list. And it’s not fancy, but there’s all the basics that you can do really well with. And a few nice things. I noticed there’s ice cream on this one.
Speaker 6:
No money changes hands here, or in any of the 142 stores like it around the world.
Speaker 12:
If I fall, there’s somebody to help.
Speaker 7:
There is a significant safety net.
Speaker 12:
Yes. For me that’s a really comforting thing.
Speaker 13:
Hello there. Good to see you.
Speaker 6:
Comforting volunteers like Sue and Bob Moore try to remove any stigma of having to make a trip here.
Speaker 13:
Go right in here, two hamburger patties.
Speaker 13:
We try and make them feel very welcome. Some people come and it could be the worst day of their life. They’re really down. They’ve lost their job. Their children are hungry.
Speaker 7:
I’ve done nothing but meet volunteers all day today. And they all say the same thing.
Speaker 13:
Oh, yeah. But that’s what we’re taught. This is what the Savior would want us to do.
Speaker 6:
As we said, you can’t pay for the items in the store, but you can do volunteer work in exchange.
Speaker 14:
We don’t just give them food. We put them to work. Life isn’t about getting something for nothing.
Speaker 6:
And it’s not just for Mormons, but you do have to meet with a bishop first.
Speaker 8:
We’ll help anyone at any time, as long as we’re able to do so and have those resources available to do so.
Speaker 7:
And you don’t sit there saying, “I’ll help you, just so long as you convert.”.
Speaker 8:
Absolutely not. There’s no tie to that whatsoever.
Speaker 6:
Welfare director Rick Foster says the goal is to get people back on their feet as quickly as possible. To that end, there are now 327 Mormon employment offices around the world. And if you need clothing, there are thrift stores too, and a lot more we haven’t shown you. Mormons really do believe they are their brother’s keeper.
Speaker 11:
It’s a commitment and a belief to follow Christ in the way that He lived His life. And one of the biggest ways He lived His life was taking care of the poor, those who were less fortunate, those who didn’t have all the breaks in life.
Speaker 1:
Okay, so now I want to talk about what’s happened since. In 2001, the Church made a huge step forward in viewing the welfare program, a self-reliance approach. You heard of give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime. President Hinckley brought about the Perpetual Education Fund at this time in 2001, and used this, quote, as a launch pad for it. And it’s helped many, many people.
Speaker 1:
Since then, in fact, this article in Deseret News in 2016 said, “As of that time, 83,260 members of the church had received loans …” and this is member funded, “for vocational or higher education, 90% find jobs upon graduation, and a significant portion of local church leaders and international congregations now come from the ranks of these PEF graduates.”.
Speaker 1:
But what ended up happening is the need for training and skills for members of all ages was too vast. More than two-thirds of church members outside of the United States and Canada live in places where, even with education and training, jobs are scarce. So in 2012, after a comprehensive review of the Perpetual Education Fund, President Thomas S. Monson authorized a dramatic expansion, this is on steroids, of his predecessor’s concepts by combining it with other efforts under the title Self-Reliance Services. We’ve had exponential growth from there. There are four big programs that were put into place. They are 12-week courses, and they are taught by volunteers at the local level. It’s run by the local church leaders.
Speaker 1:
And the results have been astounding. Just to give you some data, some numbers, if you look on the screen here, this was on LDS.org, an article in August of 2018: “Elder Michael Ringwood, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Church’s Self-Reliance Services, said that since they started keeping records in 2015, the four programs of Personal Finances, Find a Job, Education for Better Work, and Start and Grow a Business have helped more than 670,000 people worldwide.”
Speaker 1:
Now, the Perpetual Education Fund is wrapped into this, the education section, also Pathways Worldwide, which is a way for people to get actually a degree from a church-sponsored school at deeply discounted tuition rates tiered to the country that you live in, are parts of this program.
Speaker 1:
And then Elder Ringwood continues: “To me, this is one of the greatest things I have ever seen the church do. One of the blessings is for me to see people across the world willing to help each other, willing to minister to each other in a way that allows people to provide for themselves. It allows people to reach a different spiritual level in their relationship with Heavenly Father and the Savior. It helps relieve burdens on bishops.”
Speaker 1:
And in fact, many bishops have actually reported a significant drop-off in the number of people coming to them for welfare needs. And they’ve said that program has just been beautiful in that respect. And if you think about those resources now, the giving is not stopping by the members of the Church, those will be used even more so for humanitarian efforts and for preparedness efforts.
Speaker 1:
Look at some of these numbers. Deseret News put out a graphic on some of these that … Studying six months after the end of a course, and so this January 2016 through June 2018, this study, “61% started or grew their own business, 47% got a new or better job, 52% started the new school or education program, 52% of those who didn’t have a budget before attending the course now have and use one.”
Speaker 1:
Some other numbers, “41% improved their ability to provide for the necessities of life for themselves and their families, 61% improved their ability to work directly with the Lord to solve their own problems, 40% increased their income, 38% increased their savings, 59% decreased their outstanding consumer debt.”
Speaker 1:
I want to finish though with this amazing clip in Utah that KSL News did called Pathways Out Of Poverty. And they interviewed Bishop Caussé, the Presiding Bishop of the Church today, and there’s a two-minute clip I want to just share with you about this new self-reliance program. Like I said, welfare on steroids. And it’s phenomenal.
Speaker 1:
I want to close the video with that. Ponder about, like I said at the beginning, has this ever been done in the history of the world? Hope you enjoy.
Speaker 15:
So this is a self-reliance program, but it’s also a very spiritually based program as well.
Speaker 16:
When we think of self-reliance, it’s not about only self, relying on self, it’s about relying on the Lord. It is about recognizing that the Lord is in our lives, that we are dependent on Him. And so He will bless us after all we can do. And there’s a lot we can do.
Speaker 15:
Is it fair to say that we could see things happening in countries … You feel as an individual that there’s just nothing you can do to help the situation in Africa, or in Mexico. And yet, you’re seeing them transform through initiatives like this that are making widespread differences.
Speaker 16:
Well, it’s overwhelming when you see the poverty that exists in so many countries in the world. So we are not saying that we are going to change all of this, but each person that is changed is making a big difference in their community. So as people are changed, families are changed. And as families change, the whole community benefits from it.
Speaker 16:
So it’s a vision, but I believe that it is going to add a lot. We need to look at this initiative as a long-term gospel initiative, that it will affect generations to come forever.
Speaker 15:
When you talk about how the Church will look different because of this program, indeed entire communities and maybe even countries could look different if people were able to sustain themselves.
Speaker 16:
This is impacting the whole community. And I see the members of the Church as being the lights in their own countries and showing the way.
Speaker 16:
Actually, I think most governments would be interested to know what the Church is doing. They would be grateful for what the Church is doing, because changing lives for the better in the long term, a conversion to the spiritual principles of self-reliance is … at the end, eventually this is what is going to bless their country.
Resources:
Articles:
https://www.lds.org/church/news/since…
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/8…
https://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=2184…
https://thirdhour.org/blog/buzz/lds-n…
https://www.economist.com/united-stat…
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014…
Videos:
Rock Center with Brian Williams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow6mn…
KSL – Pathway out of Poverty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6UQx…
Ted Kopell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kwuw…
Church produced video on Welfare Program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StDx3…
PBS TV show Religion & Ethics Newsweekly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBZWe…
Latter-day Saints’ Q&A is a video series not produced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but by me, an ordinary member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an independent voice, with a passion for studying Church history and defending the faith. In this series, I provide evidences for the restoration, and address tough questions posed by critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, offering faithful answers based on accurate research and historical references which will be posted at the end of each video.
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