Wednesday, December 05, 2007

LDS Humanitarian Services

Hat tip to Adam for linking to this blog post about Mitt Romney showing up at someone's house, press free, to help dig out a huge tree stump after the California fires. Kudos to Governor Romney for doing some good work. Incidentally, I've dug out a tree stump or two in my time, and it's really hard work. Kudos again.

Which brings me to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' humanitarian and welfare programs. The LDS Church strives to fulfill James' declaration of "pure religion":
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world"
The Church donates man hours, money, food, clothing, and medical supplies to countries around the world each year, and the numbers, $900 million in the last 20 years, are staggering. It's amazing to me to think of the far flung locations that the Church's aid can reach. But even more impressive, and inspiring, is the many ways that service can be carried out in my own home, by me and my family. The Church's organization is such that in addition to local community based service opportunities, we can also contribute items for urgent, specific needs locally as well as globally.

For instance, a small group of LDS members got together four years ago and began making wooden toy cars. To date, they've made 14,000 of these cars, and in addition to passing them out on their own, they use the Church's existing humanitarian groups as a means to get them to children all over the world.

It's wonderful to have so many opportunities to serve, and to know that even small efforts can do much good.

No comments: