I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often inadvertently called the “Mormon” Church, and grew up in a middle class family in West Texas. I remember times when my hardworking parents struggled to pay the rent. There was no shame in this for me, because while we gratefully received bags of hand-me-downs, my parents taught us that even in our limited circumstances, we had something to give, something to offer. My dad always took us with him when he made neighborhood deliveries. Dad’s specialty was homemade bread. Mom’s specialty was homemade candy. My personal favorite were her caramels. We always had a vegetable garden and shared the produce, especially gobs of zucchini. At age 70, Dad still makes 13 loaves of bread a week and delivers at least 10 of those loaves to lucky neighbors and friends.
Faith in Christ Motivates Service
Faith in Christ and a desire to be examples of that faith motivated my parents to share our sometimes meager supply. They taught us that because of their generosity to others, our family never wanted for any necessity of life. My dad often told family stories about how our Latter-day Saint, or Mormon, pioneer ancestors sacrificed temporal means to built temples, and to feed the poor and needy around them. His pride in that legacy was evidenced as he followed their examples.
Our family’s desire to serve those around us is not unique among Latter-day Saints. Service is a basic Gospel principle and even a promise we make at baptism.
Now…ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God…that ye may have eternal life (Mosiah 18:8-9).
The Apostle James taught, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27).
In the Book of Mormon, the record of followers of Christ on the American continent, prophet-king Benjamin taught an amazing treatise connecting service to others to a true relationship with God. It lasts several chapters, but he succinctly defined his thesis at the beginning in Mosiah 2:16-19,
Behold, I say unto you that because I said unto you that I had spent my days in your service, I do not desire to boast, for I have only been in the service of God. And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?
Mormon Financial Contributions
The Church of Jesus Christ enables its members to financially contribute to alleviate poverty and suffering throughout the world. Mormons can contribute to the Church’s humanitarian aid fund which provides great relief, in forms of food, clothing, glasses, wheelchairs, immunizations, clean water, etc, to nations around the world. Mormons can also contribute to the “Fast Offering fund” which is used to provide food, housing, utilities, or other necessities for members of the Church in need.
Mormon Businessman’s Contribution in Haiti and the Philippines
Recently, the media spotlighted prominent Canadian businessman and Mormon, Tom Leavitt, for his ongoing aid in Haiti and the Philippines. After his son returned from serving as a Mormon missionary in Haiti and related the plight of the people in that nation, the Leavitt’s traveled to Haiti to see if they could make a difference. They purchase property and built an orphanage housing 24 children. The Leavitt’s prefer to call the facility a home rather than an orphanage. They gained legal guardianship of the children. A Latter-day Saint woman is the home’s mom and in an environment of love and respect insures that the children receive food, clothing, and education to meet their physical needs, and that they read scriptures together, pray to God, and attend Church to meet their spiritual needs.
While Tom Leavitt and others in his company have donated much in time and resources to the home’s progress, they also purchased an egg farm in the Philippines whose profit supports the home in Haiti.
Leavitt told the Deseret News that
It’s a drop in the bucket, what we’re doing. There are 1.2 million children without parents in Haiti. But I just do what I can. Our commitment is to give these children all of the advantages that our own children enjoyed: A loving (Latter-day Saint) gospel-centered home, safety, education, university, missions, careers.
Haiti has no real public school system, and as a result, only a few lucky children graduate from high school, while half never attend school with any degree of regularity.
Creole is the language of the people. French is the language of the government and the educated, and English is the business language. Our children only speak French in the home. They attend a highly regarded private French school. We have a tutor at the home who works with the children every day after school. They are all at the top of their class. Next September the three oldest will attend a very exclusive English-only school for two years. By the end of high school they will be fluent in all three languages.
Our company has been successful within its competitive landscape but the projects in Haiti and Philippines give our company and our employees the opportunity to be involved in programs that go beyond our local markets.
I think it provides a sense of pride to all of our employees that a portion of our profits are going towards those who need them more than us.
There is personal benefit as I see these projects as an opportunity to involve my children, aged 12 and 13, in projects that teach them that the world is a lot larger and more complicated than the communities we live in.
This story just really illustrated how a concerned group of people trying to follow the Savior’s admonition to help His children can make such an incredible difference in the world! The world of each of those children, those employed by the egg farm, and at the home, are forever impacted by the kindness and generosity of a few.
Whether we are able to contribute great sums of money, a few pennies, time, or a hot loaf of bread, each act of service to God’s children is an act of devotion to God.
I invite you to do a random act of kindness to bless someone’s life today!
To learn more of the humanitarian aid projects of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please visit http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/humanitarian-services/.
Additional Resource:
How A Mormon Mission Prepared Me To Open A Foreign Office