Mormon Church

Recently an article appeared on AOL News that reported a Mormon chapel in Haiti was not allowed to be used for refuge during the flooding from Hurricane Tomas. The author portrayed the church as unwilling to help anyone but themselves, entirely neglecting to note the Church’s exemplary humanitarian work in that nation.

The Church issued a statement of context to help readers understand the full story. While most Mormon buildings were being used as hospitals and shelters, the particular building mentioned was taken by the government to use as a command center. The leader of the congregation did not realize he might have been able to convince the government to allow them to also set up shelters. Once the building was taken over by the government, he appears to have felt it was entirely under their control. Mormons use lay leadership and many leaders in Haiti are new to the church themselves and have minimal experience in dealing with these types of situations. Communication during this time was severely limited and leaders were left to make judgments the best they could. Many of the leaders were, at the same time, coping with their own sudden homelessness, unemployment, and multiple family deaths, while caring for congregation members and helping in the community. In a time when they were grieving and worrying, they had many responsibilities and much to do.

The author neglected to note the humanitarian work the church did during this time. The official Mormon response reminded readers that:

“The humanitarian response arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints springs into action when disaster strikes to relieve suffering regardless of religious affiliation. For example, in response to the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti earlier this year, the Church has sent the equivalent of over 60 truckloads of relief supplies, including 10 air shipments, to the disaster area. The shipments have included a million pounds of food and hundreds of thousands of pounds of other relief supplies. Medical doctors were also flown to the Caribbean nation to give care to the thousands injured in the quake. Thousands more were sheltered in the Church’s meetinghouses for weeks while normalcy was restored.

One report about the disaster in question mentioned the Church had sent a shipment of 85,000 pounds of emergency supplies, one of many such shipments the Mormons made to cope with the Hurricane Tomas floods. At least fourteen doctors and nurses, as well as two counselors, were sent in with their own supplies. These supplies were supplemented by additional supplies the Church flew in later. Hospitals were set up in Mormon church buildings, accepting any who came, including many who were being turned away by other hospitals as being too injured or ill to save. Missionaries were put into service to care for those in need and to unload and distribute aid. Many Mormons went to Haiti to provide relief, either officially or unofficially and many congregations put together the hygiene kits and other aid materials the Mormons needed to carry out their work.

In the first month alone, Mormons sent 4.25 million dollars in assistance and provided nine buildings as shelters. To learn more about the Mormon humanitarian aid efforts in Haiti, read “Mormons Provide 4.25 Million Dollars in Aid to Haiti.” While many groups pulled out after the initial crisis ended, the Mormons have continued to work in Haiti to assist people of all faiths in the rebuilding process.

Mormons also worked to build temporary housing for Haitians before the rainy season. While the houses weren’t perfect, they were far better than the 2700 tents the Church had been handing out to shelter those who could not find better shelter. In the following article, you’ll note people who are not LDS mentioning coming to LDS shelters after hearing about the Mormons providing shelter from friends and neighbors.

Mormon Church to Build Temporary Housing in Haiti

An index of news stories about Mormon work in Haiti.

Index of official Mormon reports on Haiti relief efforts. Note that about half of those served were not Mormon.

Mormons have a long history of humanitarian work. The humanitarian arm of the Mormon Church is consistently involved in large disasters, often partnering with other organizations for the greatest efficiency. They also do humanitarian work in non-disaster situations. For instance, they carry out a wide variety of clean water projects, which not only provide clean water to an entire community but which train local people to maintain the project after the church has gone and teaches them how to be able to afford or obtain the materials to maintain it.

Mormons teach microfarming techniques to people in countries where there is great hunger so they can be self-sufficient in providing food for themselves. After all, bringing in food, which the Mormons also do, feeds them temporarily but leaves them dependent on outsiders for continued nutrition. When a person can instead raise his own food, he can take control of his own well-being. The Mormons also assist professional farmers in developing areas in learning how to increase their production in order to raise their personal standard of living and to feed more people.

Mormons do a great deal of humanitarian work in the field of health care. They operate vaccination programs and train people to save the lives of newborns who had been previously allowed to die due to lack of equipment. After training workers locally, they also teach local residents to train others so the program can continue when the Mormons have moved to a new area.

Gordon B. Hinckley, a former Mormon prophet, outlined the Mormon thought on serving others, regardless of religion:

“But I know that all about us there are many who are in need of help and who are deserving of rescue. Our mission in life, as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, must be a mission of saving. There are the homeless, the hungry, the destitute. Their condition is obvious. We have done much. We can do more to help those who live on the edge of survival….It is not with those on the high plains of Wyoming that we need be concerned today. It is with many immediately around us, in our families, in our wards and stakes, in our neighborhoods and communities.

“And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.” (Moses 7:18.) [Note: A ward is a congregation and a stake is similar to a Catholic diocese. The scripture quoted is from a book of Mormon scripture known as The Pearl of Great Price. Mormons use several scriptures in addition to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.] (See Gordon B. Hinckley, “Our Mission of Saving,” Ensign, Nov 1991, 52.)

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