Here’s how LDS Church spent $1.02B in service last year
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SALT LAKE CITY (KSL.com) — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spent $1.02 billion caring for others during 2022. These funds were used toward humanitarian aid, distribution of goods, counseling, food processing facilities, farms, fast offering assistance and employment centers.
In total, church members spent over 6.3 million hours volunteering, and completed 3,692 humanitarian projects. The church was influential in helping others in 190 countries and territories around the world during 2022, collaborating with 2,302 humanitarian organizations.
The church published its 2022 report showing how this money was spent on Wednesday.
“As (Jesus Christ’s) followers, we seek to love God and our neighbors throughout the world,” the First Presidency said in the report. “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.”
They expressed gratitude to members who generously donated time and money to allow the church to bring comfort and hope to others throughout the year.
The largest donations from the church included $32 million for the World Food Programme, $5 million to UNICEF’s global nutrition program for malnourished children, $5.1 million for the American Red Cross, and $5 million to Rotary International for vaccinations.
Financial contributions were also given to help people impacted by natural disasters and global conflicts including Ukrainian refugees, tsunami survivors in Tonga, storm victims in the United States and South Africa, and civil conflict victims in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
There were 11,030 welfare and self reliance service missionaries who helped contribute to the church’s service hours. In addition to the many humanitarian projects completed by the church, JustServe.org, the church’s online volunteer portal, facilitated 16,285 more projects.
Sister J. Anette Dennis, first counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, said members are grateful for opportunities to follow Christ’s commandments and become better disciples of him.
“Around the world, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints find joy in giving our time, talents and resources to help those in need — especially when it is not convenient or comfortable to do so,” she said.
Church members fast once each month and donate the value of those meals to benefit others, and members also offer time, talents and resources to help others. The report said showing love through resources and service “is a fundamental part of our beliefs — and has been since the early days of the church.”
The church discusses many other projects and initiatives in the full report, separated into different regions of the world. The report says members believe everyone should have access to food, clean water, education and health care.