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Great blessings come to us as individuals and to His Church as we support the Lord's program for the care of the poor and needy. I have experienced these blessings firsthand in distributing food, clothing, and bedding to the suffering members of the Church in Europe following World War II. I witnessed the starving, the emaciated, and the barefoot. It was a piteous sight. My heart went out in compassion to all our Heavenly Father's suffering children. I remember so well the arrival of our first Church welfare supplies in Berlin. I took with me the acting president of the mission, President Richard Ranglack. We walked to the old battered warehouse which, under armed guard, housed the precious welfare goods. At the far end of the warehouse we saw the boxes piled almost to the ceiling. "Are those boxes of food?" Richard said. "Do you mean to tell me those are boxes full of food?" "Yes, my brother," I replied. "Food and clothing and bedding and, I hope, a few medical supplies." Richard and I took down one of the boxes. We opened it. It was filled with the commonest of common foods, dried beans. As that good man saw it, he put his hands into it and ran it through his fingers, then broke down and cried like a child with gratitude. We opened another box, filled with cracked wheat--nothing added or taken away, just as the Lord made it and intended it to be. He touched a pinch of it to his mouth. After a moment he looked at me through his tearful eyes, and mine were wet too. And he said while slowly shaking his head, "Brother Benson, it is hard to believe that people who have never seen us could do so much for us." That's the Lord's system: voluntary donations motivated by brotherly love, willing service, and assisting others to help themselves. Such ensures dignity and self-respect.

Welfare Timeline—President Benson

Description
An excerpt from a talk by President Ezra Taft Benson in the April 1977 general conference.
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