The Church Welfare Plan

Celebrating 75 Years of Self-Reliance and Service

“Our primary purpose was to set up … a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with, the evils of a dole abolished, and independence, industry, thrift and self respect be once more established amongst our people. The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be re-enthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership.”

President Heber J. Grant (1856–1945), in Conference Report, Oct. 1936, 3; see also Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Heber J. Grant (2002), 115.

Contents

• 82

  A Letter from the First Presidency

• 83

  Providing in the Lord’s Way

• 84

  Seventy-Five Years of Living Providently

• 85

  Catching the Vision of Self-Reliance

• 92

  Increasing Our Compassionate Service by Following the Savior

• 93

  The Strength of Many

• 96

  Making Principles of Welfare Part of Your Life

Additional Resources

Interested in learning more about the topics discussed in these pages? Several pamphlets, DVDs, websites, and other resources may be useful to you. Visit lds.org/service/welfare-75th-anniversary for more information.

Photographs on page 81–Top: Members unload food at the Bishops’ Central Storehouse in Salt Lake City, 1937. Middle: Filipino youth plant seedlings in a garden. Bottom: Members work on a stake welfare farm in Utah, 1948.

Photo illustration by Noel Maglaque; historical photographs courtesy of Church History Archives

• First Presidency letter, June 1, 2011

• Providing in the Lord’s Way

• Seventy-Five Years of Living Providently

• Catching the Vision of Self-Reliance

• Increasing Our Compassionate Service by Following the Savior

• The Strength of Many

• Making Principles of Welfare Part of Your Life