What can We do?
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Church News Article
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Joseph Smith taught that a true Latter-day Saint 'is to feed the
hungry, clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear
of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in
any other, or in no church at all, wherever he finds them. ( Times and
Seasons, 15 Mar. 1842, 732 )
We would do well to follow the example of the Saints in Alma's day who
"did not send away any who were naked, or tat were hungry, or that were
athirst, or that were sick... therefore they were liberal to all, both
old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of
the church or in the church, having no respect to persons as to those who
stood in need"
( Alma 1:30).
Many people see suffering in the world and want to do something to help,
but they don't know how. President Thomas S. Monson suggested that
"opportunities are everywhere, Needed are eyes to see the pitiable plight
and ears to hear the silent pleadings of a broken heart" ( Never Alone,
"Ensign, May 1991, 61 ) . Perhaps the first thing we should ask ourselves
is, "How can we help those in our own families? in our own neighborhood?
in our own city?"
You might consider following practical opportunities.
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Pay funds to fast offering
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Give generously to the Humanitarian Aid Fund. All money donated to this
and goes to help the poor and needy of the world without regard to race,
religion, or nationality. There are no administrative costs.
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Donate usable items, including clothing, to Deseret Industries. Not
only will this benefit the needy within your community, but surplus items
are sent to the Latter-day Humanitarian Center for future relief efforts.
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Volunteer to work at bishops' storehouses, canneries, and welfare farms.
Some of the commodities produced at these facilities are used to provide
humanitarian aid.
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Ask your bishop or Relief Society president what specific help is needed
in the ward.
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Volunteer at an agency that assists people in your community. Established
community organizations offer many opportunities to serve - providing meals
to the homeless, teaching adults to read, mentioning at-risk youth.
Such service not only blesses those in need, but fosters unity between
Church members and the community.
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Volunteer to serve a humanitarian mission. opportunities are listed in
a bulletin sent monthly to bishops.
Along with Donations of time, local humanitarian organizations
may need material resources. For example, hygiene kits might be assembled
and given to residents of a local homeless shelter, newborn kits could
be given to a hospital, sewing kits donated to a women's shelter, and quilts
made for refugees who are new to our country.'
Sort Center
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The following guidelines are used to produce items
shipped from the Latter-day Saint Humanitarian Center to needy people throughout
the world. The guidelines help to ensure the usefulness and durability
of materials.
Completed items may be shipped or delivered in person
to
Latter-day Saint Humanitarian Center
1665 Bennett Road
Salt Lake City, UT 84104
Telephone: (801) 240-6060
Hours: 7 am - 4:30 pm M - F
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By Gerry Avant ( Associate Editor)
The Church strives to help people help themselves. But
there are times when people cannot help themselves, when they have no means
with which to provide food, clothing, shelter or obtain medical care or
other essential items. War and natural disasters sometimes strip
people of everything they own. In such cases, the Church moves quickly
to help the helpless, providing that which is essential for survival or
to ring to the suffering added degrees of comfort. Recognizing needs
beyond essentials, humanitarian relief cargo often includes toys, books,
paper, pencils, crayons and other items to comfort, console and cheer children.
Because of the advance preparations made through the humanitarian center
and central storehouse, the Church, in most cases, is able to respond to
an emergency or disaster within hours. CLothing, earlier sorted and
baled, is ready for shipment to climates from the subtropics to the ARctic.
Food has been processed, much in dry pack, and prepared for use in areas
where for one reason or another, clinics and hospitals - if they exist
- might not have even the basics o care for the sick or injured.
Many who work and serve with humanitarian relief projects emphasize
that timeliness is of the essence. "When a disaster occurs, the
time for preparation is past, " said A. Terry Oakes, chairman of the
emergency response committee of the Church's Welfare Services Department.
Garry R. Flake, director of Humanitarian Service of Church Welfare Services,
said, "As members contribute to humanitarian assistance, they help the
Church prepare ahead so that when the moment of crisis comes, the emergency
response team can move into action immediately."
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve and chairman of
the Church's humanitarian committee said, "The Church does not limit its
relief efforts to its members but follows the admonition of the Prophet
Joseph Smith when he said, ' A man filled with the Love of God is
not content with blessing his family alone, but ranger through the whole
world, anxious to bless the whole human race.'" (History of the
Church 4:227)
While plans, ships and trucks deliver supplies to scenes of wars, storms,
earthquakes, famine, poverty and many other crises throughout the world,
the element that drives the church's humanitarian relief efforts is the
individual whose contributions make possible those charitable acts.
The individual might voluntarily contribute financially, donate items of
clothing or other goods, or volunteer time and talent to create, assemble,
sort , package or prepare items for distribution to those in need.
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Projects
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School Kit
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1 blackboard - 9 x 12 (Masonite )
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1 eraser
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1 box of 12 chalk
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3 pencils
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1 pencil sharpener
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1 sm. pkg. of notebook paper (250 sheets)
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1 pair blunt nosed scissors
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1 durable cloth bag with drawstring or velcro closure
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Sand the edges and corners of blackboard
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paint blackboard with two coats of blackboard paint
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size the blackboard by coloring it with chalk all over using long side
of chalk first with horz. strokes then with vert strokes
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drill a hole in one corner of the blackboard and attach the eraser with
a 22" cord
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You may make the eraser by stuffing a soft cloth rectangle with batting
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Make the bag of heavy fabric.
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Hygiene Kit
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2 unbreakable combs
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2 toothbrushes
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1 tube of toothpaste
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1 regular size bar of soap
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4 travel-sized shampoo - Put in sealable bag
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1 travel sewing kit
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1 hand towel
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Put items in a heavy-duty, two-gallon sealable bag; remove air
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Newborn Kit
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1 receiving blanket
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4 cloth diapers ( Not disposable )
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4 diaper safety pins
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2 regular -sized bars of soap (Ivory or non allergenic)
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1 newborn layette gown
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1 pair booties
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(see newborn guidelines)
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Put items in a heavy-duty, two gallon sealable bag; remove air
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Quilts
Sizes: Crib, Single, Double
Use pre-shrunk, durable fabrics.
Use acrylic yarn, #10 Knit crosheen crochet or similar thread
All stitches acceptable
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Please leave the following first aid items in original packaging:
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Ace bandages
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Adhesive bandages, 1" wide
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Adhesive tape, 1" wide
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Arm splints
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Cotton balls, sterile and non sterile
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Cotton swabs, sterile and non sterile
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Gauze Pads, all sizes
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Gauze rolls, all sizes
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Paper tape, 1" side
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Plaster of Paris
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Tongue depressors
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Sewn Items
Keep items basic and simple
Use durable washable fabric
Pre-shrink all fabric before cutting
Clothing closures should be sewn securely
Catch stitch or safety pin together all items that belong together
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Children's Clothes
Suggested items: Infant undershirts, pants, shorts, skirts, shirts, blouses,
pajamas, dresses, underclothing.
Size: 2 - 14 years
Fabrics :Durable and washable
Simple basic patterns
Double stitch crotch seams, armhole seams, pockets and button holes.
Heavy polyester is excellent for children's pants
Girls in many countries wear only dresses. Simple colorful dresses are
easy to sew. The quantity of girls' dresses received from Deseret
Industries does not meet the need
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Receiving Blanket
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Size 30x30, double thick
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Fabrics; Winter or summer flannel, cotton poly knits, thermal knits.
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Cut two pieces of fabric the same size. With right sides together,
sew 1/4" seam around the edges.
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Leave 6" opening
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Turn inside out and press
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Baste opening edges and topstitch around entire blanket for durability.
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Sew a 10" square in the center to keep the fabric from shifting.
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A narrow crocheted edge or piping border is acceptable.
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Layette Gown
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Size: Newborn to 6 months
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Fabrics : Cotton , Cotton/poy, flannel, knits, plisse
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Use Kwik Sew 2027 or similar pattern
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Hand Towels
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Fabrics: Purchased or nearly new bath towels or bold terry cloth
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Cut towel into thirds. One yard terry cloth makes three 15 . 25" hand towels.
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Sew edges securely to prevent fraying.
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Other Needed Items
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Infant Undershirts
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Children's pajamas
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Knitted and crocheted children's clothing
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Cloth wall hangings, 18" x 18" to 45" . 45"
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Quotes and Specific Needs
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Crocheted and Knitted Items
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Size: 3"x 4' - 7'
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Material specifications: No 10 knit Cro-sheen 100% cotton in white or cream.
Do not use dye.
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When completed, roll bandage and secure with a large safety pin.
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Put in small sealable bag and seal.
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Knitting:
Use size 2 knitting needles if you knit average or loosely, size 3 needles
if you knit tightly.
Cast on 24-28 so that it measure close to 3" across. Use the knit stitch
all the way through (gives bandage the needed stretch)
Continue knitting until desired length and bind off. Secure by sipping
thread through last stitch, tying a double knot and weaving end back through
stitches.
When using a knitting machine, use only a double knit stitch because single
knit bandages curl.
Crocheting:
Use size D or #3 crochet hook
Chain enough stitches to measure 3" in width. Single crochet into
each chain. Chain one and turn. Continue to single crochet to end,
chain one and turn.
Finish off by pulling thread through last loop and secure with double knot.
Weave end back through stitches.
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The red Cross in Guatemala has asked the Sort Center for supplies
and equipment for a struggling charity hospital in that country.
The maternity section of the hospital lacks receiving blankets and layette.
Newborn babies currently are being wrapped in newspapers.
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A sister missionary working in Madagascar told a friend back home:
"You have not the faintest idea of what real poverty is like until you
come to a place like this."
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In a 1993 project in Mozambique operated by Food for the Hungry,
the group had received a Sort Center shipment of clothing. They later
wrote that the clothes were the difference between people being dressed
and walking around naked. Some of the children had never worn a "new" article
of clothing.
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An LDS doctor on a humanitarian mission in Russia toured a
major hospital. During the tour he asked to see the hospital medical
library. He was shown a room containing three medical books.
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A sort Center shipment for Serbia included a request for
some 300 crib quilts. About that time, a shipment of service project
items done by church members in the Snowflake AZ region arrived.
Among other things it included 300 crib quilts. Service projects
are NOT assigned to wards or stakes, but things seem to arrive as needed.
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A woman from Mexico said after a tour of the Sort Center :
"My
heart is so full. I have walked in a hold place during my visit here."
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The Utah National Guard offered 150 small Army cots to the
Sort Center. Officials weren't sure how they could be used or where
they could be stored, ut gratefully accepted the offer. Within days
a call came from the Salt Lake Homeless Shelter asking if the Sort Center
had any surplus cots. When asked how many the shelter needed the
answer came back, - 150.
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A small plastic bag was brought into the Sort Center as a service
project. It contained 10 knitted stocking caps for children.
They were done by a 94 year old sister who is legally blind but still seeking
to serve.
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An American woman try to adopt a child from a Romanian orphanage
stayed for a month with a Romanian family in Bucharest, the capital city.
The husband of the family had an office job and owned two dress shirts.
While he was at work, his wife would wash and iron the shirt he would wear
the next day. One of the shirts had a button missing. Each
night when he came home from work, his wife would take a button off the
shirt he wore that day and sew it on the shirt he was to wear the next
day. The visitor found this intolerable and went shopping for buttons.
But during the entire month of her stay, she was never able to find any.
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A hospital in Istanbul Turkey is seeking Sort Center support.
The pediatric surgery department lacks technical instruments and the newborn
intensive care unit does not even possess incubators.
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