Church Provides Help, Relief

Throughout the world, Latter-day Saints are actively involved in relief efforts for refugees. In Europe, they are helping to provide food, clothing, baby items, shelter, and more to assist the displaced. The Church recently donated US $2 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and another US $2 million to the World Food Programme. The donations will help the WFP provide food for some 11,000 people for four months.

“We have members in all the countries affected,” said Sister Sharon Eubank, First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency and president of Latter-day Saint Charities. Because the Church keeps a reserve fund, it was able to pre-position food and water in advance of the crisis in Ukraine, she said, noting that the Church is committed to the long-term needs of the affected countries.

In Paraguay and Peru, Church funds helped provide medical equipment for hospitals, and in Peru the Church delivered fans, lights, furniture, benches, appliances, and seven laptop computers to organizations serving children and the elderly, an interreligious council, and a girls’ shelter. In Colombia, fast-offering funds were used to provide 1,200 boxes of food and supplies to those in need. In Panama, the Church donated equipment to help preserve COVID-19 vaccines.

People in 10 cities in the United States visited a Light the World Giving Machine during the 2021 Christmas season, donating a combined US $5.8 million. The machines allow a person to purchase items (such as clothing, meals, clean water, and livestock) that will later be distributed through 44 charities in the United States as well as five global agencies.

The Church also helped those affected by tornadoes in the midwestern United States, a typhoon in the Philippines, and a volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga.

For more about Church humanitarian efforts, see the address by Elder Ronald A. Rasband on page 91.