Two recent donations highlight Church humanitarian giving
When the Church gave $32 million to the United Nations World Food Programme on Sept. 14, it marked the faith’s largest one-time contribution to a humanitarian organization to date.
The donation — presented by Bishop L. Todd Budge, second counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, in Rome, Italy — will help provide food and critical assistance to 1.6 million people facing food crises in nine countries.
On Sept. 21, the Church announced a $5 million donation to UNICEF to help fight global malnutrition among children under age 5 in up to 24 countries.
These two recent donations carry on a decades-old priority of the Church to care for those in need, including nearly $1 billion in donations in the year 2021 alone.
In 2021, the Church and its members took part in 3,909 humanitarian projects in 188 countries, with 6.8 million hours of volunteer work.
Bishop Budge said in a recent interview with the Church News: “The humanitarian outreach of the Church is given without regard to race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or any of those things, the labels that tend to divide us. We reach out to everyone — all of God’s children — because God loves them all.”
Food donated by the Church arrives in Itabuna, Bahia, Brazil, in December 2021, after heavy rains displaced thousands of people. Helping Hands volunteers with the Church wear yellow vests and shirts.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
From helping refugees to clean-water projects, self-reliance courses and disaster relief, the Church of Jesus Christ gets involved because it is what the Savior taught, explained Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé in a Church News interview.
“Helping others and reaching out to the people in need is really at the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We wouldn’t be the Church of Jesus Christ if we did not follow or strive to follow His example every day,” Bishop Caussé said.
“One of the things that He showed us to do is love our neighbor as ourselves. He taught us about the two great commandments, to love God and love our neighbor. And these are our brothers and sisters all around the world.”
