A Plan of Giving and Work
A truck driver from a Latter-day Saint bishops' storehouse delivers a large box to a family in need. The box contains a week's supply of food—oranges, apples, shortening, sugar, peanut butter, carrots, potatoes, bread, milk, cheese, fresh beef, tuna, canned fruit, cereals, flour-most of which are produced by Church welfare services projects and processed in welfare services plants. Nearby, very early on a Saturday morning, a father and son move quietly about the kitchen trying not to wake up the mother. She awakens anyway and hurries to help them prepare breakfast. The father and son are getting ready for a long day of voluntary work hoeing vegetables at a welfare farm. Not far away, a social services worker from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) walks toward a social services agency building. He has an appointment to help a couple resolve their marital difficulties. These simple actions, performed by Latter-day Saints throughout the world, are but a small part of the welfare services plan of the Church. What is welfare services? Most people associate the term 'welfare' with getting, not giving. Many see welfare as taking responsibility away from the individual and thus depriving man of his dignity.
Is the Mormon system of welfare any different? In its method of operation and its effect on people, the answer is an emphatic yes! The Mormons call it welfare services—a plan of giving and work. How does it work? And why does The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints concern itself so deeply with the earthly as well as the spiritual needs of its members? Temporal As Weil As Spiritual Happiness "It has always been a cardinal teaching with the Latter-day Saints that a religion that has not the power to save people temporally and make them prosperous and happv here cannot be depended upon to save them spiritually and to exalt them in the life to c o m e " (Joseph F. Smith, as quoted by Albert E. Bowen, The Church Welfare Plan [Independence, Mo.: Zion's Printing and Publishing Co., 1946], p. 36). Every society has members w h o , because of sickness, old age, economic depression, or occasional major disaster, have need of assistance. The Latter-day Saints believe that the responsibility for a person's spiritual and temporal well-being rests upon himself, his family, and the Church—in that order. When individual and family resources are not enough to sustain a person or family, the Church should provide aid.
Principles Love
Stewardship
Service
Consecration
Work
,
Self-Reliance
President Heber J. Grant, President of the Church at the time the Church welfare services plan was formally established, explained that the purpose of the plan was "to set up, insofar as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership" (Conference Report, Oct. 1936, p. 3). That's the philosophy in a nutshell. The Mormons believe in work and in being prepared for problems. O n what kind of principles is the welfare services plan based? Are they sound Christian principles? Judge for yourself. Principles "Welfare Services is not a program, but the essence of the gospel, ft \s the gospel in action. "It is the crowning principle of a Christian life." President Spencer W . Kimball, twelfth president of the Church, stated the fundamental truths basic to Church welfare service efforts as follows:
"First is love. The measure of our love for our fellowman and, in a large sense, the measure of our love for the Lord, is what w e do for one another and for the poor and the distressed "Second is service
(James 1:27.)
"Third is work. Work brings happiness, selfesteem, and prosperity. It is the means of all accomplishment; it is the opposite of idleness. W e are commanded to work. [See Genesis 3:19.]... "Fourth is self-reliance.
...
"Fifth is consecration, which encompasses sacrifice. Consecration is the giving of one's time, talents, and means to care for those in need—whether spiritually or temporally-and in building the Lord's k i n g d o m . . . . "Sixth is stewardship. In the Church a stewardship is a sacred spiritual or temporal trust for which there is a c c o u n t a b i l i t y . . . . "These principles govern welfare services activities" ("Welfare Services: The Gospel in Action," Ensign, Nov. 1977, pp. 77-78). Let's look at that fourth principle-selfreliance—more closely. The Boy Scout says. Be Prepared. But how prepared can a family really be? Mormons are taught to live providently in many ways.
Personal and Family Preparedness The Church welfare services plan is largely concerned with encouraging individuals and families in the Church to become self-sufficient. Latter-day Saints are taught to work diligently and to live provident lives. In family councils and local welfare services committee meetings, plans and activities are developed to help members avoid becoming dependent on others and prepare themselves in each of the following areas. Literacy and
Education
Latter-day Saints are encouraged to become skilled in reading, writing, and mathematics, because a knowledge of these skills can result in a more satisfying life and enhance work opportunities. Parents and children are encouraged to make use of public and other educational opportunities. Career
Development
Heads of households are urged to select suitable vocations or professions and to acquire necessary training. Young people are counseled to choose a career that will satisfy future economic needs and provide personal satisfaction. Financial and Resource Management Members are encouraged to establish financial goals, pay tithes and offerings, avoid debt, use economic resources wisely, and save during times of plenty for times of need. Home Production and Storage Latter-day Saints are advised to maintain gardens, to sew, and to make household items.
They are also taught how to can, freeze, and dry foods. Where legally permitted, and physically and economically possible, they are urged to store a year's supply of food, clothing, and, where possible, fuel. These supplies have saved many families from stress during times of personal need and widespread emergency. Physical
Health
In order to maintain good health. Church members are encouraged to practice sound principles of nutrition, physical fitness, weight control, immunization, sanitation, accident prevention, and dental and medical health care. In addition, members are advised to acquire appropriate health-related skills in first aid and safety, home nursing, and food selection and preparation. Social-Emotional and Spintual Strength Latter-day Saints believe that to build socialemotional and spiritual strength they must learn to love God and to communicate with him in personal prayer, be willing to love and serve their neighbors, and develop love and respect for themselves through righteous living and self-mastery. Families are taught that social and emotional strength is a blessing that comes from applying religious principles to family living. The far-reaching nature of these welfare services goals can be appreciated more fully when one realizes that of the more than four million members of the Church, thousands live in underdeveloped countries where personal and family problems are often acute. Sometimes, even with careful preparation, unexpected crises occur. A man loses his job. A woman discovers she cannot bear children.
Personal and Family Preparedness Literacy and Education
Career Development
Financial and Resource Management
Social-Emotional and Spiritual Strength
Physical Health
Home Production and Storage
storehouse Resource System Employment System
Fast Offerings and Other Welfare Resources
Bishops' Storehouses
Deseret Industries
Production Projects
EDS Social Services
How does welfare services help people deal with such needs and problems? The answer is found in a unique system established by the Church. Storehouse Resource System The storehouse resource system in the Church is the Mormon way of identifying the needs of the poor and distressed and providing resources to take care of those needs. The Church is divided into ecclesiastical wards (congregations) with an average membership of about six hundred. Presiding over each ward is a bishop, a worthy man who serves without compensation. In addition to his other duties, the bishop is responsible to seek out those in need and to minister to their needs, if they are willing to work to the extent of their ability for the assistance they receive. When individuals are unable to care for their own needs, the bishop uses the following resources. Male
Members
The men of the Church are organized into groups called priesthood quorums. T w o men are assigned to visit each family in the Church every month. These "home teachers" report back to the bishop when a family is in need. Priesthood quorum members and their families provide labor to produce needed commodities and services. Priesthood quorums also contribute funds to help the needy. Whereas the bishop is primarily concerned with providing temporary assistance and work opportunities, the priesthood quorums help with prevention of problems and with longterm rehabilitation of needy members.
Female Members and Children Since 1842, the Relief Society, an organization of all Mormon w o m e n , has been a chief help to the bishops in administering relief to the needy. The objective of the Relief Society, as stated by the Prophet Joseph Smith, "is the relief of the poor, the destitute, the widow and the orphan, and for the exercise of all benevolent p u r p o s e s . . . . They will pour in oil and wine to the wounded heart of the distressed; they will dry up the tears of the orphan and make the widow's heart to rejoice" (Documentary History of the Church, 4:567). W o m e n provide invaluable compassionate service, produce and process needed commodities, give fast offerings, and work to prepare themselves and their families for times of need. Children assist in welfare services projects according to their ability. Fast Offerings The bishop has a fast offering fund set aside to care for those in need. All able Latter-day Saints are expected to abstain from two meals each month and contribute the equivalent cost (or a more generous offering) to the Church, thus providing cash for welfare services purposes. Surplus donations are used by wards with insufficient funds. Employment
System
Church employment services are available to those in need. O n the local level, priesthood quorums and lay members are encouraged to help find jobs for the unemployed and to find better, more satisfying jobs for the employed. In addition, more than twenty-six full-time
employment centers are in operation. Over twenty-five thousand persons were placed in gainful employment during a recent year. Bishops'
Storehouses
A bishops' storehouse contains a supply of commodities produced in large part by Church members. Welfare Square in Salt Lake City is a modern supermarket with accompanying warehouse space. The Church has many similar storehouses in the United States in areas where the Mormon population is concentrated. Other storehouses are being introduced worldwide. While these storehouses provide many of the same services as any retail food store, not one has a cash register. The only way a person can obtain commodities from a storehouse is through a bishop's requisition order. Often, visitors at Welfare Square and other storehouses wish they could buy the goods stocked there, but these are commodities that money cannot buy. No price tag is put on the time, effort, and love so generously contributed to the common good of those in need. Production Projects and Processing
Facilities
Each unit of the Church is expected to participate in a project that produces quality food or nonfood commodities for the welfare services system. It is not uncommon to see doctors, lawyers, corporation presidents, college professors, secretaries, housewives, bus drivers, and others working side-by-side hoeing long rows of sugar beets, making peanut butter, or processing tuna.
LDS Social
Services
Agencies of LDS Social Services help members with social and emotional problems. The two main areas of help are licensed services (such as adoptions, services for unwed parents, foster home care, and Indian student placement) and clinical services (including professional therapy for individuals and families). One of these services—the Indian student placement service—enables Indian youth to live in foster homes during the school year and to obtain a better education than they might receive on a reservation. During the summer months, these young people return to their homes, which helps them preserve their cultural heritage. Deseret
Industries
The four basic principles that govern the operation of Deseret Industries are thrift, giving, work, and sharing. Deseret Industries includes a number of nonprofit family thrift stores where the public can buy refurbished and "as is" items. This program provides an opportunity for people to donate all types of items they no longer use and to help train those in need. Deseret Industries also serves as a bishops' storehouse from which a bishop may requisition nonfood commodities to provide for the needy. Deseret Industries includes workshops to help the elderly, the handicapped, and others to help themselves. Unneeded clothing, furniture, toys, and other items are collected through regular drives and are then refurbished and recycled by employees, many of whom are
crippled, blind, elderly, or handicapped in other ways. Meaningful work for these people helps them build their skills, self-esteem, and confidence. Welfare Services
Missionaries
Members of the Church with specialized training are often called as full-time missionaries to help Church leaders improve social-emotional, economic, health, educational, and other conditions in developing areas of the world. They provide invaluable service in areas where temporal needs are great and where local resource persons are not available or are in short supply. These specialists may include farmers, teachers, social workers, nurses, career counselors, home economists, and others with skills that are in demand. Individuals with expertise in welfare services production projects, bishops' storehouses, Deseret Industries, LDS Social Services, or employment centers may also be called to assist in implementing these activities. There are more than five hundred such specialists currently serving throughout the world. Member
resources
Besides the above-mentioned resources, the bishop may call upon Church members in his congregation to share their individual resources and talents with those in need. Work for
Assistance
Those who receive assistance through welfare services (over 100,000 in a recent year) are expected to work to the extent of their ability
to earn what they receive and to produce something to help others in need. Those who receive assistance give of their time, talents, and means. They work on welfare production projects, at storehouses, and in Deseret Industries. They help maintain Church buildings and grounds and work on service projects as assigned. There is no dole. Instead, independence and freedom from idleness and its attendant evils are encouraged. What about government welfare or other forms of charity? Individual, Family, and Church Responsibilities Church policy regarding government and other forms of charity is given in this statement: "The responsibility for each member's spiritual, social, emotional, physical, or economic wellbeing rests first, upon himself, second, upon his family, and third, upon the Church. Members of the Church are commanded by the Lord to be self-reliant and independent to the extent of their ability. (See Doctrine and Covenants 78:13-14.) "No true Latter-day Saint, while physically or emotionally able, will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family's well-being to someone else. So long as he can, under the inspiration of the Lord and with his own labors, he will work to the extent of his ability to supply himself and his family with the spiritual and temporal necessities of life. [See Genesis 3:19,1 Timothy 5:8, and Philippians 2:12.]
"As guided by the Spirit of the Lord and through applying these principles, each member of the Church should make his own decision as to what assistance he accepts, be it from governmental or other sources. In this way, independence, self-respect, dignity, and self-reliance will be fostered and free agency maintained" (The Presiding Bishopric, September 1977; quoted in Ensign, March 1978, p. 20). Of course, wherever there is a large group of people, there are those w h o have special needs-the elderly, the handicapped, the institutionalized. How can welfare services help them to help themselves? Members with Special Needs Ward leaders and members meet regularly in welfare services committees to organize available Church and community resources to help those with special needs. For the deaf person w h o uses sign language, help may include identifying and training interpreters or organizing congregations where only sign language is used. For the blind and crippled, help may include a variety of Church materials in Braille, on records, or on cassettes, as well as helping with yard work, reading mail, and in many other ways. To a family with a retarded child, such services mean special activity groups, simplified teaching materials, and occasional care for a hyperactive retarded child so that the parents may have much needed rest.
For the person in a wheelchair, such services mean arranging for reserved parking, curb cuts, accessible doors, ramps, and restrooms. An elderly person may have special needs for social contacts, transportation, proper nutrition, and useful work. Welfare services committees arrange to have youth groups visit rest homes, paint a widow's home, or have an elderly widow teach young people to quilt. If persons are chronically ill or homebound and cannot attend Church, leaders and members take Church services to them. Local welfare services committees provide help to those in institutions-state prisons, state schools for the blind, rest homes, sanatoriums, and mental hospitals. Church leaders and members counsel with potential suicides and those entangled in sin. If alcoholism is a problem, specially trained resource persons are assigned to work closely with the drinker. Family members of the alcoholic receive special counsel. Summary That's an overview of the Latter-day Saint welfare services. It's obviously not just another program. It's a system of caring for oneself, one's family, and the poor, needy, and distressed, a system based on Christian principles. It's a way of life and a set of values based upon love, service, work, self-reliance, giving, and responsibility for one's actions. Welfare services is the gospel of Jesus Christ in action!
Members with Special Needs Help the Institutionalized
Encourage Repentance and Reform of Deviant Behavior
Comfort the Sick and Bereaved
Care for Dependent Children and Elderly
Help the Handicapped Help Themselves
Counsel Those in Need of Employment
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JESUS CHRIST Of LATTER-DAY SAINTS PGWE1216
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Copyright -e 1 9 7 9 by C o f p o r a i b n c# the Pres«3ent ai T h e C h u r c h ot -Jesus C h r t s J of L a t t e r - d a y S a i n t s All R i g W s R e s e r v e d