Posted on 01/01/2009 6:08:54 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
SALT LAKE CITY-Bishop's Storehouse looks like any other grocery store at first glance: The shelves are neatly lined with canned goods and the smell of fresh bread wafts through the aisles.
But there are no cash registers. The fruits and vegetables, just-made cheeses and milk are free — a safety net for those in need provided by the 13 million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"We like to call it the best food money can't buy," said Jim Goodrich, who oversees the storehouse and other facilities on the church's 13-plus-acre Welfare Square.
Mormons may be among the country's best prepared to weather the current economic hard times. Since the Great Depression, church leaders have preached a doctrine of self-reliance and selflessness, calling on members to plan for their own future while tending to the needs of others.
"It's a critical component of our theology," said Bishop David Burton, a senior church administrator who oversees the faith's worldwide welfare and humanitarian services programs.
Year's supply of emergency food Members are encouraged to squirrel away a few months' worth of living expenses and stock a one-year supply of emergency food. Church handouts, classes and a Web site describe how to prepare, store and cook with emergency food supplies so nothing goes to waste.
Each month, members skip two meals and give the money they would have spent on food to church welfare programs, paying for the commodities, clothing, job training and other services made available to the needy.
The church also works in partnership with other faith traditions and local social service agencies to share surplus commodities and support services.
Goodrich's Welfare Square is the heart of the program.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Umm, I think there’s a little more involved in that. But it’s just common sense, especially in this debt-happy society.
I dunno, I’m kinda thinking most of the breaking-and-entering riff raff are gonna thin out pretty quick.
Think about it. How many homes do you think you might be able to successfully break and enter before you did your last?
You might be able to do two. Or even four. But by the time you try your tenth, you’re gonna be dead meat. Practically guaranteed.
Somebodies gonna have your number.
That would be an extraordinarily bad idea.
L
Mormons are like you in this area of life.
What are you talking about? It's used every day for people who are temporally in bad straits. And it has helped uncounted people during economic down times. I wish to heck I had a years supply of food right now, I just became unemployed.
I would have no trouble feeding people who knocked on my door, asked, or offered to work for it.
I would have no problem killing someone who tried to take it by force.
You’re right about the difficulty enforcing such a law on a national or even widespread basis — but the fact of such a law existing is a danger in itself....
Think of Capone — it was income tax evasion that locked his ass up..
With the law as proposed, the Feds would only have to “find” a single round to render a citizen a felon....
I’m all for having a pantry in case of emergencies. I still have a lot of batteries for sale after Y2K. Any takers?
Batteries? Still good? Actually much of what I have for emergencies doesn’t require batteries: windup flashlights, windup radio, electric generator, multi-fuel cook stove.
It allows LDS wards to handle such disasters as the collapse of the Teton Dam in Rexburg, ID and not have to wait for the goofballs in the government to show up with their little badges, or the Red Cross to show up and start charging for coffee.
In some wards, non-Mormons are invited to use the LDS kitchens to do their canning as well. They LDS Church remembers what it was like for people to starve in the first couple years of crossing the high plains of Wyoming on the way to Salt Lake, not to mention the year when the idiot President Buchanan sent the federal troops westward to confront the Mormons.
“Why so fatalistic? If this truly has been preached as doctrine for so long, and obviously it has never come to fruition, it seems more based on tradition than necessity.”
The mormons I know are into living providently, not necessarily in survivalist mode.
SLA
I have a .357 that I bought about 5 years ago and a box of ammo and I have never fired the gun. At that rate it will last infinity
Jesus commanded us to feed the hungry...its kinda hard to do that if you don't have food in the house. :)
Ditto brother.
I just bought a 6 pack of "D" batteries today at W-M - $6. I had no idea that they would cost that much - it's been that long since I bought any. I expected maybe $1.79 for a six pack. My wife tells me that I am in the dark ages.
Really? Nobody has ever dipped into their supply of food in cases of natural disaster, times of unemployment, and various other reasons.
Sure it hasn't been widespread but my family alone has had to dip into ours a few times in the last 30 years and then replenish it later.
So what's the problem? The practice or the fact it's the LDS Church that teaches it?
This is the LDS 1 year food calculator.
http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm
Although not a Mormon, I work with several and have a lot of respect for them. I have worked for three fellow Baptists, and was never treated as well as I am now.
I am working on building up the certain parts of the food supply, including just ordering 2 years worth of seed.
Most of the Mormons I know are ready and able to protect themselves.
I was thinking something like that myself. I'll have to go to (ahem) full auto if they come in force.
Sorry to hear about your change of fortune. Where do you live and what can you do? Perhaps there’s some Freepers in your area that can give you some leads for a new job.
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