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 ...
Mini-14 in one hand and an M1 Carbine in the other, thats ALMOST full auto!!
We don't have a full year supply of food right now. Maybe enough for 6 months. We did have a good year's worth of food but have been sharing with a couple of others that are in dire need. Won't be long until I will planting a big garden so we should be alright.
Yer allowed 3 deer, eh???
Actually one antlered buck a day. But I cant eat that many.
I had relatives who were Mormons and they were farmers in western Kentucky. They were very frugal, lived clean lives and always had enough. Maybe too much.
“Mini-14 in one hand and an M1 Carbine in the other, thats ALMOST full auto!!”
What do you do when your nose itches?
You're absolutely correct. There's no way that I'm going to let my neighbors starve while my family lives off of our own carefully purchased and stored food supply. I may ask for some sort of service or other forms of trade in return if I'm lacking anything I that I absolutely need. But even barring that I am not going to watch my neighbors starve to death if it ever comes to that.
Better to listen to Christ but leave this life earlier than to ignore His teachings and live a few more weeks/months. Our reward is not here in this life. Hording the food would be its own reward and there would be no reward in heaven.
Sneeze, I guess!
We constantly eat from our supply and replenish it. We rotate everything, eating the older stuff first and adding newer canned food, wheat, and staples to be eaten later. We use our wheat grinder and make our own flour, rarely buying store-bought bread, etc. We've even found a brand of powdered milk that is not that bad and have taught ourselves to use it (it takes some getting used to.) It not only saves us money (powdered is cheaper than store-bought milk) but it prepares us for any time that milk is not available.
We've just started making our own yogurt and are looking into indoor gardening/hydroponics so that we can grow veggies all year round. We bought up a bunch of cheap turkeys after Thanksgiving, cooked them all up, and canned them and stored them in our cold storage.
My wife watches for sales on food, buys it by the case when it is cheap, and we store it. We're saving a ton of money on food while preparing for any kind of hard times. And we're teaching our kids these principles and getting them accustomed to preparing and eating these sorts of things. It becomes a lifestyle after a while and it has to if you want to be prepared, know how to cook/prepare what you've stored, be able to change your diet to eat what you've stored, and not let any of what you've stored go to waste.
Maybe, but if I were a low-lifer, I’d think twice on taking on someone who knew how to shoot so well, especially if they had many more friends like me (in real life) to join them.
You just reminded me why our swing state has never supplied another president since. But he was the first Nancy Boy ever elected. The Gay Mafia should take pride in that. Their war on Mormons is more than 150 years old now.
By the way, how did that confrontation turn out 150 years ago?
Feeding strangers sounds like a noble and Christian thing to do. But what if those strangers accept the food you give them and then decide they want it all? Would you sacrifice the safety and lives of your family to do the Christian thing?
I wish I could be that brave and that Christian, but I have learned from past experience not to trust anyone you don’t know...especially in a society-meltdown situation.
I wish you luck though.
It’s a noble gesture but if the doo-doo really hits the fan, that will be the government’s food. The Mormons don’t have tanks or planes.
If I did have a stockpile of guns or food, I would never tell anyone.
That’s one thing we have to work on in our family. We do it wrong. Our food supply is mostly raw goods and given our busy lifestyles we hardly touch it in favor of easy to prepare foods that you just open and microwave.
Low lifer? You’re talking about a complete breakdown in society. It would be a dog-eat-dog battle for survival. Anyone with a hoard will become a target for everyone without. The govt may even outlaw hoarding and come in and coniscate everything as they fight to keep their positions.
It also serves during times of unemployment, recession, etc. You might have noticed that these things have come to pass quite a lot during the past couple of centuries. Think about this: a widow with several months living expenses in the bank and a year’s supply of food on the cupboard has no worries about starvation or eviction and can restructure her life. It is not just for societal collapse but is for basic provident living.
So a government that can’t keep order in South Central LA during a basic “we-didn’t-get-the-verdict-we-wanted” riot is going to have the resources to come and confiscate food storage in remote Rocky Mountain states populated largely by gun toting Mormons?
Amen.
I have NO idea if they’re still good, LOL. I should try and buy the things you mentioned. Where can you get them?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.