Mormon Church Gets Aid into Pakistan

The Mormon Church has no members in Pakistan, and no meeting houses, temples or welfare centers.  Thus, there is no church infrastructure on the ground in Pakistan to help distribute aid or to inform the Church as to where aid is needed. 

Therefore, the LDS Church has partnered with International Relief and Development, International Medical Corps and Saba Aslam Welfare and Trust to locally purchase and distribute immediate relief supplies.

Additional supplies from the Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake City will be shipped in the coming weeks, in partnership with Islamic Relief USA. 

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Pakistan,” said Presiding Bishop H. David Burton, who oversees humanitarian efforts. “The generous donations of church members and others is allowing the church to provide aid that will relieve the suffering of many people.”

“Heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan triggered the worst flooding in 80 years, beginning in late July. More than a third of the country has been impacted, and more than 1,500 people have died; 17 million others have been directly affected.” [1]

One hundred percent of the donations given to the church’s humanitarian services are used for relief efforts. The LDS Church absorbs its own overhead costs.  The help the Church is able to give around the world regardless of their culture or religion is due to the generousity of its members.

So that Newborns can Breathe

BYU Students Harness Sun Power for Peruvians

The Peruvians who live on the floating reed islands of Lake Titicaca want for basic amenities.  19 BYU engineering students recently returned from Peru, where they set up sustainable projects to meet basic human needs.  BYU Global Engineering Outreach class/club has visited the Uros people on the floating islands before. A windmill power generator was installed by a previous class.

However, the villagers weren’t using it, gravely concerned about the lightning risks of having a tall metal pole in the middle of a lake on an island made of reeds.  The windmill, therefore was left in the hands of the local government, while another project was planned.  The locals can study it and hopefully install it on the shore and in some of the mountain villages.

Next year’s students will work on a solar-heated water tank and possibly a bio-filter toilet — the simple wishes of one of the mothers on the island.

Currently, the Uros make small reed fires or spend nearly a third of their small incomes on fuel for propane stoves.  The engineering students designed sun cooker prototypes and spoke with members from the village to identify locally available resources.  The sun cooker can boil 12 eggs in 30 minutes.

Mormons Continue to Supply USNS Comfort with Staff and Supplies

Participation in the U.S. Navy’s Operation Continuing Promise mission improves the Mormon Church‘s capacity for responding to emergencies.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has provided 60% of the Navy emergency medical ship’s staff and supplies for its 4-month mission in 2009.  The ship visited seven countries on its humanitarian aid mission.  The plan is to continue the mission this year.

Nate Leishman, the manager of Humanitarian Emergency Response for The Church, has tracked natural disasters and noted that they are on the increase.  He cites prophecies of last-days disasters as part of the reason.  Expecting this increase, the Church has ramped up its ability to respond, partially by teaming with other charitable organizations.

The LDS Church has recently responded to flooding in the Northeast; earthquakes in Chile, Haiti and Indonesia; a tsunami in Samoa; typhoons in the Philippines; and civil unrest in Zimbabwe.  “We’re really responding to something almost every day somewhere around the world,” Leishman said.  The tsunami in Southeast Asia and the earthquake in Haiti were the biggest disasters in recent history.  Leishman expects the Church to be involved in humanitarian efforts in Haiti “for years to come.”  The Church is still offering relief in Asia.

Haiti was among the seven Caribbean, Central American and South American nations visited by the USNS Comfort between April 1 and July 31, 2009. The LDS Church’s role began when a representative from humanitarian partner Islamic Relief suggested that the Navy’s annual humanitarian voyages were a worthwhile project to be apart of.  Leishman attended a conference in January 2009 where he was told that the Comfort needed supplies, but also nurses, translators and general volunteers.

The Presiding Bishopric approved the Church’s involvement, and LDS Humanitarian Services loaded the comfort with hygiene, medical and school supplies.

It was easier than expected to find volunteer support. Forty-five Latter-day Saints were stationed aboard the Comfort on a rotating basis, each serving at least one month. The church also made 137 volunteers available in-country from its missionary force and church membership.  With the help of in-country volunteers, the 650 medical professionals onboard the Comfort, of which 600 were active duty and reserve military, counted 432,846 healthcare service encounters, treated 100,049 patients, performed 1,657 surgeries (such as cataract removal and cleft palette repair) and helped 15,003 dental patients.  Eleven other countries besides the United States had military personnel involved.

The Church was able to strengthen relationships with other non-governmental organizations, U.S. military leaders, ambassadors and the governments of the seven nations (Haiti, Dominican Republic, Antigua, Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua and El Salvador).

The USNS Comfort has since returned to Haiti to provide aid for earthquake victims. Participation in projects such as Operation Continuing Promise helps facilitate future humanitarian efforts, Leishman said.

LDS Church Responds to Earthquake in Chile

Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are determining how the Church can be of most assistance in the wake of one of the most powerful earthquakes of the last century. With over half a million Latter-day Saints living in Chile, the Church has a substantial presence.  There are well over 100 Mormon missionaries in the country.  They were well prepared for the quake through the guidance of the Holy Spirit given to their mission president, who was warned ahead of time by the Lord that the disaster was coming.  All safe and accounted for, they were able to render assistance to their neighbors almost immediately.

“We, along with the rest of the world, are watching with concern as reports from the massive earthquake in Chile continue to unfold.  As with any disaster, immediate details are difficult to confirm.

“We have confirmed that all of the Church’s missionaries in Chile have reported in and are safe, including the two elders on the Juan Fernandez Island.” (This is an update from a report earlier today when some missionaries had not reported in).

Latter-day Saints are counseled by their leaders to store food, water, clothing and fuel against unpredicted emergencies, and this helps them weather such disasters and again be ready to help their neighbors.  Local leaders and members began relief efforts shortly after the quake distributing food and water already located in Concepción. Early reports indicate that one Church member has died.  [Later reports confirmed 7 church members dead and one missing.]

Church leaders have identified that food, water, tents, blankets, hygiene kits and sleeping mats are needed to assist people in the affected region. Representatives of the Church in Chile have been in contact with the country’s Interior Ministry to determine how the Church can most appropriately assist in relief efforts. Emergency response personnel at Church headquarters are poised to provide assistance as appropriate.  Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Chile delivered six tons of food from local bishops’ storehouses to the city of Talca on 2 March to help meet needs in several cities north of Concepción.  A second shipment of 20 tons of food is expected to reach Concepción on 3 March. Two additional shipments of food have been sent to affected areas to the south of Concepción.

Most Latter-day Saint meetinghouses in Chile fared well in the quake, though many are filled with dust. At least three meetinghouses suffered extensive structural damage, and another was severely flooded. A house that also served as a meetinghouse was swept away in the tsunami triggered by the earthquake.  Those wishing to donate to the Church Humanitarian Aid Fund can do so here. Resources from the Church Humanitarian Aid Fund make it possible for the Church to conduct humanitarian activities all over the world. One hundred percent of all contributions are used to help the needy.

Update: March 3, 2010

Food supplies are being pulled from Bishop’s storehouses in locations in Chile for delivery to earthquake-stricken areas.  Six tons of food were delivered Tuesday to the city of Talca to help meet needs in several cities north of Concepcion. A second shipment of 20 tons of food was to reach Concepcion later Tuesday.  Also, two additional shipments of food have been sent to affected areas south of Concepcion.

Update: March 17, 2010

An airlift of tents, tarps, diapers and other supplies sent by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Chilean government arrived in Santiago from Miami on Monday, 15 March. The supplies had been specifically requested by the previous Chilean government and will provide relief in the wake of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile in February.  The Church’s Chile area presidency, which directs the work of the Church throughout Chile, met with Rodrigo Hinzpeter, Chile’s new interior minister, and Cristobal Lira, the general coordinator of donations, to formally donate the shipment. The ministers expressed their gratitude for all the Church was doing to help the Chilean people.

Local Church leaders are also continuing to coordinate the delivery of food, water and other supplies provided locally from bishops’ storehouses in Chile to affected areas, including the Juan Fernandez Islands, which were hit by a major tsunami. Several tons of relief supplies have already been provided by the Church from resources in country.  Still, nearly 450 Church members are temporarily using 25 Church meetinghouses as living quarters.

Update: April 19, 2010

Click here to read a piece about the Mormon missionaries in Chile, the protection they were blessed with, and the service they were able to provide.

Mormon Church Provides $4.25 Million in Aid to Haiti

In the first month following Haiti’s devastating January 12, 2010, earthquake, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provided an estimated $4.25 million in assistance, with plans for ongoing relief and recovery support for the ravaged Caribbean nation.

Relief efforts have included providing food, relief supplies, shelters for displaced Haitians and medical teams to treat the injured and ailing.

The LDS Church has shipped 28 truckloads of relief supplies — including nine air shipments — to Haiti.

Food and relief supplies included 208,834 pounds of food, 16,070 water-filtration bottles, 12,840 hygiene kits, 11,760 blankets, 4,000 first-aid kits, 2,304 newborn kits, 1,696 tents, 1,319 tarps, 600 quilts and 25 medical supply modules.

Other items range from gas-powered cooking stoves to mattresses.  Additionally, five truckloads of food and relief supplies were driven across the island from the church’s Caribbean area facilities in the neighboring Dominican Republic, while local church leaders were authorized to use fast-offering funds to purchase food and water in the first days immediately after the quake.

Nine of the Port-au-Prince LDS meetinghouses have been used as emergency shelters, with up to 9,000 people total — not just LDS Church members — seeking assistance or staying on the meetinghouse grounds.  The Church has also provided food, relief and some cash assistance to a number of nongovernmental organizations, including CARE, Food for  thePoor, Red Cross, International Relief and Development, Islamic Relief and Healing Hands for Haiti. Local church leaders also have provided additional assistance to Haitian charitable organizations.

The church has sent several first-response medical teams, totaling 17 doctors and three nurses, with specialties including trauma, orthopedics, family practice, emergency room and critical care.  Two mental health counselors also assisted at the shelters. Additional medical and mental-health professionals have since gone to Haiti to continue the assisting and assessing needs. [1]

Read more…

Haitian Latter-day Saints

“Those who are members [of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] begin with a gift not easily duplicated—and that is they see themselves differently.  This is the secret, the very key to escaping the culture of poverty.

“They see themselves not as helpless or hopeless, but on a spiritual journey of growth, children of God with a destiny that lies far beyond the broken hovels.  They have testimonies, understand the scriptures, talk with insight about the meaning of their lives.  They have as President Ezra Taft Benson used to say, not just been taken out of the slums, but have had the slums taken out of them.

“They have vision.  They see themselves differently than do their fellows. While Haiti seeks to build a new infrastructure, the Haitian Latter-day Saints have a personal foundation that is unwavering and firm.  An infrastructure in their nation will follow the building of an internal infrastructure based on a sure foundation.

“We have never met better people than among the Haitian Latter-day Saints, nor seen former missionaries who were so in love with the people they had taught and baptized.

“We have never seen miracles more lavishly given from the Lord than among the members in Haiti who are coping with such difficult odds.

“Beyond that, the Church works to promote education and leadership among the people.  Those who have everything given to them, without expectation of work and effort, grow heavy and dull-eyed with apathy and expectation.  In contrast, the Church is there to bring food and shelter in an emergency, but it is all toward the end of ultimately developing the people, their self-sufficiency and their eternal nature.  They are taught to help themselves, become someone who can be counted on, someone who is productive.

“We remember being in Ghana at the time of the temple dedication, learning about the huge numbers of unemployed Latter-day Saints there, the many that were sunk below the poverty line.  We were told by priesthood leaders there that the goal for the area was to be self-sufficient in fast offerings and be able to cover the needs of their own poor.  That is a high expectation, indeed, but not an unrealistic one, as the ability of people to stand is developed by their membership in the Church.”  (Meridian Magazine Report.)

Update: April 26, 2010
One hundred days after the earthquakes in Haiti, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues its aid projects there.  More than a million pounds of food has been delivered and another half-million pounds of additional relief supplies provided.

The totals do not include additional supplies — such as hygiene kits, tents, blankets and medical supplies — given to other charity- or relief-based non-government organizations (NGOs) in Haiti.

However, efforts to build hundreds of shelters are moving very slowly, partly because so much of the land is covered with rubble or near unsafe structures, and residents are unable to show the proof of ownership or landowner’s permission to erect a structure.

The church has hired a local building contractor to oversee future efforts while continuing to donate to other NGOs, such as International Relief and Development, which is building multi-shelter communities on open properties.

The LDS Church has property and plans to build a bishop’s storehouse in Haiti, but the Freres neighborhood land is still housing some 360 homeless, with the meetinghouse grounds now clear of temporary residents.

Deploying an employment specialist and small management staff, the church has established an office in the Centrale Ward meetinghouse that works with bishops to pair individuals with prospective basic-wage jobs, such as the United Nations-sponsored cash-for-work program and groups like Catholic Relief Services and MercyCorps.

Other efforts include working with other NGOs to restart a projected 100 businesses that existed prior to the quake and to foster new businesses.

Another partnership program provides mentoring to would-be employees, as the church “hires” — or pays — individuals during a short training period while a business provides training and job experience for that company or its industry in general.

Update, May 14, 2010:

A banquet was held in Salt Lake City to honor the Utah Hospital Task Force, a Utah group that was the largest non-military response team in Haiti following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that devastated the island country on Jan. 12, killing an estimated 230,000 people.  The banquet was the formal launch of a program with a goal to build a new hospital in Haiti by Jan. 12, 2011, the one-year anniversary of the earthquake.  At the dinner, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert officially declared May 12 as the state’s Haiti Volunteers Day. Herbert commented on the overwhelming support that poured into Haiti from Utah.

Hospital plans call for 130 beds and treatment options for a wide range of patients. In addition to meeting basic health care needs, the hospital would also provide maternity and child care services and treat malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

Fundraising efforts are in the early stages, and the task force faces the daunting task of constructing a hospital in less than nine months.

While in Haiti, the task force treated more than 5,000 patients, delivered food to more than 250,000 people and provided housing and work to numerous Haitians.

Mormons Remember 1985 Fast for Ethiopians

2010 is the 25th anniversary of an especially successful and heartwarming humanitarian aid project funded by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Leaders of the LDS Church visited a feeding camp in Ethiopia which housed 120,000 refugees.  30,000 more were trying to be admitted.  The people were hollow-eyed and starving.  The Church had called upon its members to hold a special fast and to donate the money that would have been spent on meals to the starving people in Ethiopia.  Latter-day Saints fast on the first Sunday of each month, anyway, and then donate the money saved on skipped meals to the Church for the support of the poor.  That day is called “fast Sunday” by members of the Church.  This special fast brought in donations of $6 million US dollars from Latter-day Saints worldwide.

Elder M. Russell Ballard, then of the Presidency of the Seventy and now a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Elder Glenn L. Pace, then managing director of the Church’s Welfare Department and now of the First Quorum of the Seventy, were in Ethiopia to determine how best to use the money donated.

“While the Church has always responded to the suffering caused by various disasters, the Ethiopian famine triggered a more methodical and organized effort than had been experienced before,” Elder Pace said.  Church leaders held sacred the funds raised in the fast, as well as a second fast held in November 1985 that raised an additional $5 million. To expedite its Church’s humanitarian endeavors, the Church began to form relationships with humanitarian organizations to help those in need.

In the 25 years since that fast, the Church has sent $1.1 billion in assistance to 167 nations. That includes 61,308 tons of food, 12,829 tons of medical supplies, 84,681 tons of clothing and 8.6 million hygiene, newborn and school kits.

And each year the Church’s ability to assist others increases as other humanitarian organizations (many with which the Church now partners) have become acquainted with the Church, said Presiding Bishop H. David Burton. “They know our integrity. They know that when we commit, we follow through. I think we have earned a place among the very best of the non-governmental organizations around the world.”

Today, members may provide support for humanitarian work by donating online, donating through LDS Philanthropies, by giving items to the Deseret Industries or by serving at some of the hundreds of established Church welfare facilities located around the world.

The Church guarantees that every penny donated to the humanitarian fund is used for the care of the poor and the needy.

Vegetable Program Helps Bolivians

The Bolivia Altiplano is a remote region some 14,000 feet above sea level, home to an impoverished population.  Residents are enjoying a more healthy, balanced diet thanks to an LDS Church-sponsored greenhouse project that is bringing spinach, carrots and other vitamin-rich produce to a region where vegetables are typically scarce.  The people of the Bolivian Altiplano have long existed on a diet of meat and potatoes. The climate here is simply too harsh for traditional farming and reliable plant growth of most types of vegetables. As a result, many people here live in a perpetual state of vitamin starvation.

Recognizing the need to incorporate fresh vegetables into the diet of LDS Altiplano families, the church introduced a culture-changing technology here in the form of family underground greenhouses. Dozens of earthen greenhouses can now be found outside Altiplano homes.  Made of adobe and other simple building materials, the greenhouses are providing families with year-round access to tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, peppers, carrots and a produce section’s worth of other vitamin-rich veggies.  With the assistance of the church’s Benson Institute Office in La Paz, some 100 families have built greenhouses over the past two years. Most of the families are LDS, but many non-LDS families also have been included in the project. The greenhouses are typically built underground where the temperature remains constant, allowing for perpetual harvests.

After digging a rectangular hole, a wooden frame is built that typically rises about two feet above the ground. A roof made of fiberglass or plastic is then stretched across the frame.   The church provided the building materials for the families to get started, along with plenty of construction assistance and training. The homeowners and their families perform most of the building and labor. Principles of self-sufficiency are followed throughout the building process.

The greenhouse owners also were given a maiden batch of seeds that would allow them to grow the vegetables needed to feed their families — with enough produce left over to sell and purchase more seeds.  Training has been essential to the project’s success.  Greenhouses must be situated to receive 10 hours of sunlight, and vegetables must be planted correctly, or they won’t grow.  The residents have been used to eating only one vegetable — potatoes.  They have needed training in the cooking of the vegetables as well as how to serve them raw, and how to make them palatable. [1]

LDS Humanitarian Aid in Haiti

Haitians gather outside of the LDS Centrale Ward chapel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Immediately after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began mobilizing to send aid. This included a large shipment of 85,000 pounds of supplies from Miami. That shipment included emergency resources such as food, blankets, tents and tarps. Latter-day Saint missionaries assisted in unloading the supplies.

Two more shipments of food, medical supplies and other items have been trucked in containers from the Dominican Republic to Haiti.  Additional Church shipments from the United States and the Dominican Republic are planned and will include supplies specifically requested by local Church leaders on the ground.

A team of doctors sent by the Church to help the injured in Haiti left the Salt Lake airport shortly after the tragedy.  The team included 14 doctors and nurses and two family services specialists. The group was self-contained and carrying their own medical supplies, which will be augmented by additional supplies being sent separately. Another small group of physicians from the Dominican Republic and coordinated by the Church is already working in Haiti.

Seven Latter-day Saint chapels in Haiti are being used as shelters for over 4,000 people from the community. All of the Church’s chapels in Haiti are left largely undamaged by the quake, and many are being used in the relief effort (From LDS Newsroom).

On January 22, 2010, The LDS Church issued the following statement:

Three air shipments of aid provided by the Church have arrived and are being used in Haiti. They include food, medical supplies, tents, water filtration bottles, blankets, newborn kits, wheelchairs, first aid kits and other items. Those three flights include a total of nearly 225,000 pounds of relief supplies. The Church provided the transportation for one of those flights, and CARE and United Airlines provided transport for the other two.

Two more flights are scheduled to leave from Miami by this weekend, and additional flights are planned from Chicago. United Airlines again is providing the transportation for the Chicago shipments, and Islamic Relief USA is providing part of the transportation costs for the Miami shipments. Plans are also being made for future shipments.

Additionally, three truckloads of relief supplies have arrived in Haiti with supplies the Church procured in the Dominican Republic.

Medical Relief

A team of five medical personnel coordinated by the Church arrived on Friday, 15 January, from the Dominican Republic to assist the injured. Another team of 16 medical professionals from the United States arrived on 18 January and are currently providing care for those who need it. “It means so much to these people to know that somebody knows that they are here,” said Brandon Hall, a doctor from Mapleton, Utah.

Later in its relief efforts, church leaders issued an appeal to the LDS membership to help the people of Haiti:

In a statement published on the Church’s official Web site, Church President Thomas S. Monson and counselors Henry B. Eyring and Dieter F. Uchtdorf said they are “keenly aware that many in America are dealing with economic challenges brought on by the recent recession.”  Many Church members have made substantial contributions to Church Humanitarian Services, but more is needed.

Latter-day Saints pay 10% of their increase as tithing to the Church.  These donations are made in private (rather than passing around a donation plate) to the bishop of each ward.  The donation is placed in an envelope addressed to the bishop and includes a receipt.  On the receipt are listed other categories of donations that Latter-day Saints can make.  One such category is Humanitarian Aid.  Church leaders have asked that humanitarian aid donations increase, or that specific donations be made through the emergency response website.

The Church’s humanitarian outreach to the poor dates from its earliest beginnings, but major international efforts have included relief shipments at the end of World War II, aid during the Ethiopian famine in the 1980s and most recently relief after the Asian tsunami.  Efforts include not only immediate relief but long-term restructuring.

Often, the Church collaborates with other organizations to provide shipments of food and other needed items.

Today’s First Presidency statement also addressed the emotional trauma the Haitian people are experiencing in the wake of the devastating earthquake.

“Money is not the only need in Haiti,” the statement continued. “People are frightened, bewildered, and wholly uncertain about their future. In addition to what people can do in helping with food, water and shelter, there needs to be a calming influence over that troubled nation. We invite people everywhere to supplicate God for a spirit of calm and peace among the people.”

Donations for relief efforts can be made at http://give.lds.org/emergencyresponse.

In the Caribbean islands, there are more than 150,000 members of the LDS Church, in 369 congregations. Over 15,000 of these members live in Haiti, half of these calling Port-au-Prince home.

Update: 2 February 2010

Five air shipments of aid provided by the Church have arrived and are being used in Haiti. They include food, medical supplies, communications equipment, tents, tarps, water filtration bottles, blankets, newborn kits, wheelchairs, first aid kits, portable toilets and other items. Those five flights include a total of nearly 375,000 pounds of relief supplies. Partners United Airlines, Islamic Relief USA, Airline Ambassadors and UPS have worked with the Church to provide transport for these shipments.

Additionally, four truckloads of relief supplies have arrived in Haiti with supplies the Church procured in the Dominican Republic. On the ground in Haiti, the Church is working with partners Food for the Poor and CARE to distribute supplies.

Local Church leaders closest to the situation provide the direction for what supplies are most needed for people in their areas. Future shipments will continue to bring those relief supplies.

“Normal daily activity has come to a stop in Haiti. Helping to restore normalcy in the midst of devastation will be our greatest goal. Our focus will be on helping people become self-reliant again,” said Elder Francisco J. Viñas, the LDS Church area president who oversees the Church in Haiti.

Medical Relief
A team of five medical personnel coordinated by the Church arrived on Friday, 15 January, from the Dominican Republic to assist the injured. Another team of 16 medical professionals from the United States arrived on 18 January and provided emergency care for those needing medical attention. A revolving core team of doctors from the Church remains in Haiti providing general health care, follow-up care for injuries, as well as for sickness and communicable disease common after disasters.  Other private groups of Latter-day Saints, including medical personnel, have been serving in Haiti.  People who were formerly missionaries there have provided help, because they speak Creole or French, or both.   The Utah Hospital team remaining in Haiti was comprised of over 100 people, including returned missionaries serving as translators.  To read about the team, click here and on links at the bottom of the page.

Church Meetinghouses as Shelters
All of the Church’s meetinghouses in Haiti have been left largely undamaged. Local Church leaders report that nine chapels in Haiti have been used to shelter as many as 5,000 people in local communities where the chapels are located. Several truckloads of food and other relief supplies have been shipped to the chapels, and doctors sent by the Church have provided treatment to injured and sick individuals who are taking shelter there.

Generosity of Members and Friends of the Church
In the first few days after the earthquake the LDS Church received donations in the millions of US dollars from concerned members of the community, specifically for aid in Haiti. Church members in the Caribbean Area have been invited to dedicate their February monthly fast offering to the Haiti relief effort. When fasting, members traditionally donate the money they save by not eating two meals to the church for providing financial help to those in need; those who can donate more are encouraged to do so.

Update February 16, 2010

The LDS Church announced that it would send 600 home-building kits to Haiti to provide temporary shelter for church members who lost their homes.  The goal is to get the homes built before the rainy season starts.  A single kit includes lumber, corrugated tin for the roof, cement and hurricane straps for the roof.  Organized service projects will first clear away the rubble of homes that were destroyed by the earthquake.  A storehouse is also being established that will store food staples for the members.  Orders are filled through local congregational leaders. Deliveries are then made to the nine Latter-day Saint meetinghouses that have been used as shelters for those displaced by the quake.

The Church has provided nearly 1,500 tents to those left homeless, and many now dot the property around the chapels. “A neighbor told me about this place and invited me to come,” said 16-year-old Cazy Lenlingy. “I am very happy to be here. Everyone has been kind and has received me well, thanks to God.”

Over 7,000 people originally took refuge at the meetinghouses, with those not of the Mormon faith making up more than two-thirds of the homeless.

Response teams on the ground in Port-au-Prince are continuing to assess the situation and coordinate with other nongovernment organizations and relief agencies. While details are still being worked out, future activities will likely include assisting in agricultural, water and mobility projects, providing employment assistance, providing continued support to temporary settlements, and continuing work with other relief agencies.

Continuing Service by the Mormon Church and Individual Church Members

Individual members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been mobilizing to do what they can for the people of Haiti.  Read about them by clicking on the following links:

Teen Sends Help to Haiti

Haiti: Time to Cry

Utahns and Haitian Orphans

LDS Aid in Haiti

LDS Medical Team Saves Man’s Leg

LDS Helping Hands in Haiti

Humanitarian Aid to Haiti

LDS Doctor Chronicles Haiti Efforts

Haiti Efforts Fostering Cooperation

Our Enduring Ties with Haiti

No Day of Rest for Haiti

Former Missionary Helping in Haiti

Mormon Med Student finds Haitian Daughter

Mormon social workers help Haitians with grief, anger

LDS Relief Team reflects upon Service

Plans for Haitian Children headed to Utah

Utahn Brandt Anderson builds an orphanage in Haiti

LDS Family Spared by Miracles in Haiti

Haitians Camp in LDS Meetinghouse Parking Lots

LDS Haitians Go Back to Church

Orphan Rescue

A Photo Essay of the Destruction in Haiti

LDS Haitians Return to Worship After Destruction

A Day in Haiti for the LDS Service Team

Foyer de Sion Orphanage Story

Healing Hands for Haiti

First-hand Account from Randon H. Draper,  an LDS Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Air Force, and as an attorney on the ground in Haiti

LDS Psychologist Helps in Haiti

LDS Humanitarian Aid to Storm-Stricken Cambodia and Laos

In early November, 2009, the senior couple in Laos, Elder Gary and Sister Joy Fountaine from Veyo, Utah, organized and carried out a project to take 25 tons of rice to a flooded area near the southern city of Pakse, Laos. That district was hard hit twice this year by serious floods, making it impossible for residents to plant their rice crops.

In Cambodia, Elder Lowell and Sister Cheryl Curtis from Riverton, Utah, organized a similar project, transporting 40 tons of rice to the Sandan District in northern Cambodia, providing almost 800 families with a 100-pound bag of rice. The Sandan District was hit by the same storm system that devastated Laos, destroying its residents’ ability to plant crops of rice for the year.

Each recipient sat next to the bag of rice they were to receive. Loading their gifts onto their bicycles, they carried home the only rice they were likely to have for the coming year.  The provisions were purchased with Church humanitarian donations, and the senior missionary couples faithfully saw to their distribution, blessing the lives of many people. //

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