Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes mistakenly called the “Mormon Church,” are well-known for their volunteerism, giving both service and funds in their church and their communities.  In early 2012 the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released findings associated with a comprehensive study of Mormons.  The focus was Mormon volunteerism, which was found to be far and beyond what most Americans, even very religious Americans give in terms of time and money.

An event was scheduled along with the release of the results of the study, called Mormons and Civic Life (read the transcript here), in which the results were discussed by those who mounted the study, scholars, members of the press, and others.

The findings of the study showed that while about 30% to 50% of Americans volunteer, they do it for about three to four hours a month.  Studies by the Corporation for National and Community Service show that Utah has the highest rate of volunteering.   Utah is the American state with the most Mormons.  The Pew study (using a 14 page, very detailed questionnaire) showed that Mormons do much more on a monthly basis.

For religious activities, people give on average 242 hours. For church-affiliated volunteering to help meet social needs of people in the church, 96 hours. For church-affiliated activities helping people outside the church, 56 hours. And for activities outside of the church totally, 34 hours.

If we take the value of the hours volunteering for an average member of the Latter-day Saints, it’s about $9,140 annually. This is a major, major contribution.

When analyzing the giving habits of Mormons the Pew study divided “giving” into three types — secular giving (outside the Church), giving as tithing (10% of one’s increase), and giving to the Church over and beyond tithing.

For secular giving, meaning giving money to worthy causes outside of the church, an average person in the church gives $1,171. Giving to welfare through the church — $650. And on top of tithing — $203 per person for religious activities.

The first thing that I said about tithing — 88.8% of members of the church that we interviewed reported that they provide full tithing. Remember, we went to the church; people that we interviewed were active members of the church. They went to a Sunday service, and this is where we found them. Another about 6% said that they do partial tithing. The total social donation — I’m excluding now the religious donation outside — if we only take what they gave for social causes within the church and outside the church, we have $1,821.

To conclude, we found a group of people that are most generous in our society. Through their theology of obedience and sacrifice and strong commitment to tithing and service, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints are the most pro-social members in American society. We couldn’t believe the findings. But that’s what we have.

Discussed at the event was the remarkable fact that Mormons show up after every major disaster, ready to provide relief; that Mormons believe in preparedness and self-reliance; that there is a social structure within each congregation that binds members together and encourages them to provide more service.  Most Mormons interviewed said that taking care of the poor and needy is a very important aspect of their faith.

Additional Resources:

More on the Pew Study on Mormon Volunteerism

Basic Mormon Beliefs and Real Mormons

Mormons Believe

Our Search for Happiness

The country of Malaysia consists of West Malaysia on the Malaysian peninsula, and East Malaysia, with the states of Sabah and Sarawak on the north side of the island of Borneo.  Malaysia is unique in that there is little to fear from either earthquakes or storms.  Even the devastating tsunami of December 2004 originating just west of Indonesia caused relatively minor damage and the loss of less than 60 lives.  But there are ongoing needs in the country, and humanitarian aid missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have done much good in finding those needs and providing aid through The Church of Jesus Christ’s ongoing humanitarian efforts.

In early 2012 LDS senior Mormon  missionaries, Kenneth and Gloria Larson, traveled to Tawau, Sabah, East Malaysia, where they have three current Humanitarian Projects.  They are in the process of completing a vision project with the Rotary Club of Tawau, where they have distributed about 1500 pairs of eyeglasses to poor school children who live in villages in and around Tawau.  They have also provided several pieces of new optical equipment which are portable and can be  used for eye exams in these remote villages.  They worked closely with Dr. Adjit who is the only ophthalmologist in the Tawau area, and a member of the Rotary Club, the partnering organization.

The Church of Jesus Christ is also working on a large water project with the Rotary Club of Tawau as its partner.  This charitable project will supply clean water to a village of about 4,500 people.  This village has a source of fresh spring water, but no way of supplying the village.  The government built a small, unusable dam for them, but still no way of getting the water to the people.  LDS Charities, in partnership with the Rotary Club, has built a bigger, better dam with two 10,000 liter storage tanks, a solar powered generator to pump the water to the storage tanks, and all new PVC pipes to take the water to the homes.    The total cost for LDS Charities is $125,000-$150,000, all of it donated by caring Mormons and their friends of other faiths.

As part of the ongoing “wheel chair initiative” of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, partnering in this case with Cheshire Homes and the  Red Crescent Society,  LDS Charities has donated 620 wheelchairs to Kota Kinabalu this year.  Jennifer Liew  of Cheshire Homes in Sabah  has helped to distribute these chairs in Sandakan and Tawau.  Red Crescent Society is helping to distribute these chairs in Tawau.   The partnering local organizations must assure that recipients have been properly assessed for the correct size of the wheel chairs they receive, and are responsible to train recipients how to care for and use the chairs.  For this, the partnering organizations receive training from LDS Humanitarian Aid missionaries.

Additional Resources:

Basic Mormon Beliefs and Real Mormons

LDS Church Finances

Jesus Christ in Mormonism

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church), contributed to disaster relief in 58 countries during 2010.  The Welfare Services Emergency Response Report shows that the LDS Church responded to 119 disasters and provided millions of dollars in emergency aid.

Disasters worldwide claimed the lives of nearly 300,000 people in 2010, making it the deadliest year in the last 25.  There were about 350 natural disasters.  Two hundred million people were affected, and disasters caused about $100 billion worth of damage. 

Earthquakes took center stage with temblors in Haiti and Chile, and New Zealand.  The Mormon Church continues to send relief to Haiti.  The most widespread type of disaster globally was flooding.  Pakistan, China, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and the Philippines, as well as Central America and northern South America, suffered from devastating floods, as has the United States.  There were two major cholera outbreaks, one in Haiti and one in Papua New Guinea. 

The humanitarian aid efforts of the Mormon Church are made possible through the generous donations of members and friends of the Church. One hundred percent of all contributions are used to help those in need.

In the United States, just one child of 20,000 is born without pigmentation, a condition called albinism.  But in Kenya, the percentage is much higher due to intermarriage.  The condition is caused by a recessive gene; one recessive gene from the father, and one from the mother, and an albino child is born.  Some Africans believe that there is magic in the body parts of albinos, so there is an active black market for them (bringing $10,000 per child, and putting albino children at great risk).

Jami Quesenberry was a 47-year-old Mormon mother and homemaker who joined a charitable expedition to Kenya to help build schools.  While there, she saw a native mother with an albino child.  The child was in need of medical care because of her condition, plus ways to be protected from both violence and from the sun.  Quesenberry’s heart was touched, but she didn’t know what she could do to help.  Some months later, Koins for Kenya asked her to manage another expedition.  Remembering the mother and child, she heard that Hussein Lumbambo, was starting a school for albino children in Kinandaongo, a safe school with a high-walled dormitory for the students.  There had been a benefactor, but money had run out.

Quesenberry and her family went through their substantial amount of “stuff” and had a garage sale.  She is looking for other ways to raise funds.  There are probably 100 other albino children in the surrounding area.  The mother she had seen actually had two.  The father divorced her and chased her and the children with a machete.  They had found refuge behind the walls of the school grounds.  Word about the school and the protection it provides is getting around, and more children are being brought there.  Koins for Kenya is seeking personal sponsors for the children.

Bret Van Leeuwen, an Alpine businessman and founder of Koins for Kenya, said the school for albino children is purposefully located in a village that’s not easily accessible. He said when the school opens in January, he expects 80 children but is prepared for 100. [1]

Read more.

The South Provo homeless shelter is only about 30 miles from the Salt Lake City headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Brent Crane, executive director of the Food and Care Coalition received an e-mail from Church Humanitarian Services and LDS Charities in November, 2010, announcing a donation of $341,000.  The donation would arrive immediately to go toward its transitional housing center in south Provo.  The goal is to get more people off the streets this winter.

The homeless shelter still has not reached its goal of $700,000 in donations, but the offering from the Church is a big leap.  Crane must prove that he has enough money to operate for one year before the board of directors will allow the upper floor to be opened to homeless singles and couples.  The LDS Charities donation will be enough to finish off the living quarters that will house 26 homeless men and 12 homeless women.

The funds will go for construction and finishing materials and furnishings.  The coalition leadership had contacted the LDS Charities several months ago.  Funds come from the volutary donations of members of the Church.

Becky Douglas has turned a tragic event into a charitable project helping many in India.  Becky’s oldest daughter, Amber, took her own life in college, ending a struggle with bi-polar disorder.  When Becky was sorting through Amber’s possessions, she discovered that Amber had sponsored an orphan in India.  She requested donations for the orphanage in lieu of flowers for Amber’s funeral.  So much money was collected that Douglas was asked to serve on the orphanage’s board of directors.  She decided she had better make a trip to India.

During the trip, Becky discovered that the orphanage was well-run and that the children were well cared for.  However, her heart bled when she saw lepers begging in the streets.  She discovered that people with leprosy are outcasts, and that their children also become untouchable, living in the leprosy colonies with their parents.  She decided to do something.  She called four close friends, and together they created Rising Star Outreach, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving leprosy victims in India and their children.

Leprosy is curable and easily treated.  India provides care for lepers.  But many are too ashamed to seek help.  They become outcasts and beggars.  Becky decided on a three-pronged approach — 1- to provide mobile medical care for people living in the colonies; 2- to create a safe learning environment for the children of lepers; and 3- to offer micro-loans to lepers to wean them from begging into gainful work.  The work is moving forward, thanks to volunteers from all over the world.

Because of Rising Star, lepers have access to clean bandages and medications.  The mobile units also check for other diseases and conditions and seek to discover leprosy when it’s just begun, thus possibly preventing physical signs of the disease. 

Rising Star gives colony kids a separate place to live and go to school, protecting them from the disease through separation and clean environs.  At school they learn English and computer skills.  There are nearly 200 children in Rising Star’s primary and secondary schools.  Rising Star has partnered with people in India to help with the micro-loan program.  Rising Star has been invited to open facilities in nearly every state in India.  To date, the organization has helped around 20,000 people.

Rising Star can be contacted at risingstaroutreach.org.

To read the full article in LDS Living on Rising Star Outreach, click here.

LDS Living Magazine editor Jamie Lawson visited India and has written about the experience in three parts, including a video.  You can see the articles at the following links:

The Untouchables, Part 1

The Untouchables, Part 2

The Untouchables, Part 3

The Untouchables Video

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.

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.

Louis Pope, the retiring chief executive of US Synthetics, is moving to a nice beach house in Kenya.  Rather than launching out on a dream vacation or relaxing retirement, the 62-year-old Mormon instead will take a hands-on approach to directing two businesses he has created to lift the poorest people in Kenya out of abject poverty.

Pope formed Orem-based US Synthetics in 1978 and built the company into the world’s leading producer of synthetic diamond drill bits, a critical component in oil and gas exploration.  He is using the rewards of this success to bless the lives of others in a remote part of the world.  His entire family is behind the move and eager to help.

While working as a busy executive, Pope took the time to join a humanitarian aid project called Choice Humanitarian to rural Mexico in 1996 to help build a school.  Choice Humanitarian is based in West Jordan, Utah.  The experience was the first step in what became a life-changing journey for Pope. A year later, he went to Kenya with the same organization.

Pope has since returned more than 25 times to the former British colony on Africa’s east coast on a personal mission to help “the poorest of the poor,” he said.

During the past 10 years, Pope has established two Kenyan-based companies — Yehu Microfinance, which offers loans to women living in extreme poverty, and Coast Coconut Farms, which produces coconut oil using low-tech methods developed by a group of BYU engineering students as one of the school’s Capstone projects. Pope created a third company, Basa Body, based in the US Synthetics Orem plant, to use the coconut oil to make body lotion and similar products.

Coast Coconut Farms provides work for more than 100 Kenyan families, from farmers’ cooperatives to harvest coconuts to groups of micro-franchisees that operate small-scale oil presses.

Yehu Microfinance offers loans that average about $135 to women who have had no access to money lenders in the past to start small businesses. 17,000 women are currently employed (MormonTimes.com).

In January, 2010, Pope and his wife, Chriss, will take the next step when they move into a home they are building near Mombasa. They plan to live there nine months out of the year so Pope can focus his energy on his Kenyan businesses and perhaps launch some new ones — all of them designed to provide work for the Kenyan poor.  The Popes will be distancing themselves from their 5 children and 21 grandchildren, but will stay in touch via the internet.  Members of their family will make the trip for visits and extended stays to help with the work and experience the culture.

The presence of the LDS Church in the area — Mombasa has three branches — means the Popes can stay close to their faith. And as a former British colony, Kenya has two official languages — English and Swahili.

And they are building a beautiful house on a beautiful beach.