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By Deborah Carl
A Look at Bishop's Storehouse Shows LDS Welfare System
COLFAX, NORTH CAROLINA -- This fall has become one of the busiest times the
Bishop's Storehouse in Colfax, North Carolina has seen. The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints councils its members to keep a one-year supply
of groceries in their home in the event of unemployment or disaster. After
September 11, more members have come to the storehouse to buy beans, sugar,
powdered milk, wheat and other non-perishables to vacuum pack and store at
home.
Mendy Greenwood, who attends the Greensboro Second Ward in Sedgefield, has a
year's supply stashed in closets, under beds, and in the garage. She was
glad she hasn't needed to use her supply, but it is a comfort to have it.
Latest figures show a 4.8 percent unemployment rate in the North Carolina,
South Carolina and Virginia area, and others are working fewer hours or at
lower salaries. Besides being a cannery, the Bishop's Storehouse is an
emergency food pantry, which provides groceries to needy members of the
church in the tri-state area. Orders of everything from peanut butter and
cereal to fruit punch mix and peas are faxed to the storehouse and
volunteers box it up. Trucks deliver the orders each day in the tri-state
area. Surpluses are donated to the Greensboro Urban Ministry.
Members from the church around the world fast (go with out food) one day a
month and donate the money they would have spent on groceries that day to
the church. That money is used to fund the Bishop's Storehouses across the
country, the church farms, and other humanitarian aide projects.
Linda Jones, public affairs director for the Greensboro Stake says when she
thinks about the last century -- the wars, the Depression, the recessions --
she wonders how America would have faired if every family had a year's worth
of groceries stashed away.
Source:
Cannery helps keep Mormons prepared
Greensboro NC News-Record 28Nov01 D1
By Margaret Moffett Banks: Staff Writer - News &Record
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