The Journey of a Peach

The journey of a single peach through the hands of thousands of Latter-day Saint volunteers to the mouths of a hurricane-torn family is proof that through small and simple acts of service the Church can collectively accomplish something large.

Working at the cannery

LDS Church News published a story called “Behind the Box,” describing the unselfish service of thousands of Latter-day Saints (Church News, Sept 27, 2008).  Local members cared for peach trees on the Church-owned farm in Ogden, Utah.  The peaches were delivered to a Church cannery in Lindon, Utah, where they were cleaned and processed by additional volunteers.

The cans emerged from the Lindon cannery with a Deseret label, not for commercial distribution, but for the welfare needs of the Church, and for humanitarian aid efforts.  The canned peaches were transported to “Welfare Square” in Salt Lake City, where additional Mormon volunteers packed them into “food boxes.”  The food boxes were then shipped by truck to Texas.

In Texas, the food boxes were unloaded and distributed to hurricane victims in the greater Houston area.

“The Church has 138 storehouses located around the Western Hemisphere; 108 of those storehouses are in the United States and Canada and 128 are operated entirely by volunteers. Food items for the storehouses are produced at canneries and other facilities across the United States.

“Each year, 14 Church canneries produce 12.6 million cans of food. In addition, Deseret Bakery produces 453,594 loaves of bread, Deseret Pasta produces 938,505 pounds of pasta and Deseret Soap produces 2.6 million pounds of soap. Deseret Dairy produces 9.8 million pounds of milk, 1.5 million pounds of powdered milk and 727,251 pounds of cheese.

“The Deseret label represents compassion, hard work and high quality,” said Brother Lifferth. “It is the only brand that money can’t buy,” he said, noting that the products are not sold but distributed to the poor and needy and victims of disasters.”