Mormons know welfare

[True Earthling]

Last edited Sun Feb 19, 2012, 07:44 PM - Edit history (1)

Say what you will about their religion, they take care of their own and then some...

Ever since Mitt Romney said he was "not concerned about the very poor" but would fix America's social safety net "if it needs repair," conservatives and liberals have been frantically making suggestions. Gov. Romney says he would consider options like restructuring Medicaid. But if he wants to see a welfare system that lets almost no one fall through the cracks while at the same time ensuring that its beneficiaries don't become lifelong dependents, he could look to his own church.

As I ride in a golf cart through a new 15-acre warehouse on the outskirts of Utah's capital, I can't help but wonder: How many Wal-Marts would fit in here? How many burgers can you make from 4,400 industrial pallets of frozen meat? And how do they keep this place cleaner than my kitchen floor? Dedicated last month, the Bishops Central Storehouse contains a two-year supply of food to support the Mormon church's welfare system in the U.S. and Canada (primarily for church members in need) and its humanitarian program, which sends food, medical supplies and other necessities to the needy (of all faiths) world-wide.

Because it has members on the ground around the world, the church continues to be an important force in bringing food and supplies to the impoverished and victims of natural disasters. Local church leaders contact the central headquarters in Salt Lake City to tell them what is needed—gauze pads, school supplies, wheelchairs—and the church does its best to accommodate. The Department of Defense recently visited the new storehouse to find out how the Mormons are able to mobilize so quickly, and there is an almost military sense of efficiency and strategy to the church's efforts. When Hurricane Katrina struck, for instance, the church had positioned its fully loaded trucks in a kind of semicircle from South Carolina to Texas because no one knew how the storm was going to move. The church used reserves of fuel that it has placed around the country, and drivers were able to bring full tanker trucks into New Orleans, powering rescue vehicles and even chain saws to remove tree limbs.

http://goo.gl/H2sb2

[broiles]

1. They have a lot of experience with federal aid too.

Especially the FLDS. Thats how many poligamists support such large families. They have their extra wives apply for welfare as unwed mothers.

[FreeState]

4. The church in the OP has never used federal aid

That being the LDS (Mormon) church, FLD is not affiliated with the LDS at all other than a common ancestry.

[kestrel91316]

2. I dunno, they never helped my elderly grandmother out at all.

She was poor as a church mouse and an LDS member (though a "jack&quot her whole life. All they ever did was come around and harangue her about tithing. My grandfather and uncles had to keep running them off - they kept coming around even though they were NOT welcome. On her remote ranch they knew they could get away with that.

Never gave her a dime, or a morsel of food, but they demanded plenty of money.

[FreeState]

3. LDS won't help in the long run unless you pay tithing and go to church n/t

[msongs]

7. their free aid is not free, you have to pay for it before hand lol nt

[tularetom]

5. Yeah but is it worth it?

You have to believe a lot of crazy shit (even more so than most organized religion) and wear some itchy underwear even in the summer.

Maybe my perspective would be different if I were starving but I couldn't even talk about some of the church precepts with a straight face.

[Yo_Mama]

9. They provide resources to a bunch of non-affiliated organizations too

That church is truly charitable. The link someone left will take you to the whole article, from which this is an excerpt:

Most of the inventory in the central storehouse, though, goes to supply more than 100 smaller storehouses around the country, plus hundreds of soup kitchens and homeless shelters of other religious communities around North America. Members of the Mormon church who find themselves in difficult circumstances can go to their local bishop and ask for aid.

The system they set up is used to help their own members and to help in natural disasters all over the world. Most of it is funded by the individual church members as the article explains. You don't have to believe as they do, but it is folly to mock the good work that they do, and their beliefs are why they do what they do.

It's worth noting that this system was set up as a result of the Great Depression, and that it runs mostly on volunteer labor.

[aaaaaa5a]

6. Your link requires a subscription to read the full article.

If anyone has access to the article without requiring a website subscription, please post it. I would love to read the report further.


Thank you.

[True Earthling]

8. Took a while but I found a link...

try this... http://goo.gl/H2sb2

[aaaaaa5a]

12. Great! Thank you very much.

Your efforts are very much appreciated. REC!:

hi:

[kiva]

10. A friend who was raised LDS -

now atheist - says she has never understood why the majority of Mormons are Republican, since many of the precepts of the religion are community-based and not focused on the rugged individualism so admired by conservatives.

[white_wolf]

11. It goes even further than wellfare.

The early Mormons were very communal in nature and practiced something called the United Order, which Mormons claim Satan perverted to create Communism.