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Report: LDS Church spent $1B helping people in need in 2022

By Genelle Pugmire - Daily Herald | Mar 23, 2023

Photo supplied, Intellectual Reserve

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released its annual caring report on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

On Tuesday, the church released its Caring for Those in Need annual report for 2022, spotlighting the scale and reach of humanitarian efforts over the past year.

In the cover letter of the report, the First Presidency — consisting of President Russell M. Nelson and his counselors Presidents Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring — share their gratitude for members’ devotion to sharing and caring.

“We are pleased to share this annual report on our work to care for God’s children,” the First Presidency message says. “We gratefully acknowledge the selfless service and donation of time, funds, and other resources by Church members and friends as we collectively care for others.”

The report shows that this work included more than $1 billion in expenditures, 6.3 million hours volunteered and 3,692 humanitarian projects in 190 countries and territories.

The funds used to help care for those in need went toward fast-offering assistance, humanitarian aid, goods distributed from bishops’ storehouses and Deseret Industries stores, and operations such as Family Services counseling, employment centers, farms and food-processing facilities.

The First Presidency said in the report that the faith “is simply doing what the Savior of the world would do.”

“As His followers, we seek to love God and our neighbors throughout the world,” the First Presidency said. “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is eager to bless others and to help those in need. We are blessed to have the ability, resources, and trusted global connections to carry out this sacred responsibility, which we consider a joyful privilege.”

The largest monetary donations the church gave in 2022 include $32 million to the World Food Programme and $5 million to UNICEF’s global nutrition program, which helps malnourished children.

Other high-dollar donations were a $5.1 million gift to the American Red Cross — in addition to more than 1 million units of donated blood from Latter-day Saints — and another $5 million to Rotary International for polio and maternal and neonatal tetanus vaccinations.

The church also made financial contributions to help people impacted by global natural disasters and armed conflict, including relief to Ukrainian refugees; tsunami survivors in Tonga; storm victims in Kentucky, Florida and South Africa; and victims of civil conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“The love and desire to help is overwhelming to see,” said Julia, a church member in Austria who helped refugees in several eastern European countries, in a church statement. “People’s hearts are drawn toward each other.”

In Utah, the church also helped bring electricity to a Navajo community in Utah, among other service projects in the U.S. and abroad.

Light the World Giving Machines collected approximately $22 million in funds at Christmastime, which aided in buying food and other items for people in 28 locations around the world.

The volunteer hours donated in 2022 included service at farms, orchards, canneries and Deseret Industries stores, as well as at missions to care for those in need and for cleanup after natural disasters, the report noted.

In addition to the thousands of humanitarian projects, 16,285 new service projects were facilitated by JustServe.org, the church’s free online volunteer portal available in 14 countries that connects people to service opportunities matching their interests and location.

The report also highlights the church’s ongoing environmental stewardship initiatives. Since 2018, it said, yearly water consumption at the faith’s Salt Lake City headquarters has been reduced by 38 million gallons. Additionally, more than 500 meetinghouses worldwide now have solar panels, Deseret Industries processed 73 million recycled goods, and the Church’s Print and Distribution Center recycled nearly 4,000 tons of paper, metal, cardboard and plastic.

“As we continue to love and strengthen one another through service, we invite all to join us in this important work,” The First Presidency concluded in its message.

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