Mormon Helping Hands

[anatess2]

So, Hurricane Matthew swept through the East Coast leaving tons of damage.

The hurricane swept through the area on Friday.  A semi truck of provisions arrived at the Stake Center on Saturday and at least 200 people from the Stake showed up to unload and organize the stuff.  It went by sooo quick with so many helping hands!

Yesterday, instead of holding regular sacrament meetings, we had everybody willing and able to work gather at the Stake Center.  We held a short Sacrament Meeting with only the passing of the bread and water and a very short talk by our Stake President to offer spiritual and temporal encouragement and strength and then we got organized into work crews.  We had phone banks set to answer the 800-number where people can call in for help.  Then the work crews set out to help those who called.  It was such an amazing thing to see.  My teen-age sons cut up trees, fixed fences, cleared debris, patched roofs... I ran around just being a gofer... buying and distributing work gloves, filling up the cooler with water and gatorades, passing equipment from one crew to another, etc.  We even had my kids' non-Mormon friends pitch in to help.

We will probably be doing the same thing the next 3 weekends due to the amount of damage in the area.

So... you can help us by blasting the 800-number in your social media to reach people up and down the East Coast who might need help.  1-800-451-1954.

Thanks!

[NeuroTypical]

Can I cut and paste this into my Facebook feed?  (Not to take credit, but to give a firsthand account of what's happening.)

Edited October 10, 2016 by NeuroTypical

[anatess2]

Sure.

[Guest]

So, how did your house hold up?

[anatess2]

I got a sturdy house.  Went through 3 hurricanes already.  No damage.  Not even a shingle flew off.  The screened-in patio roof was buckling and groaning wanting to fly off but it held up!

[Sunday21]

11 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

I got a sturdy house.  Went through 3 hurricanes already.  No damage.  Not even a shingle flew off.  The screened-in patio roof was buckling and groaning wanting to fly off but it held up!

Great news! We are so happy to hear this! Best to your family and the ward.

[Guest MormonGator]

I don't think the average non member has a clue how much LDS charities help people out after disasters like this. Not an insult to non-lds. 

[NeuroTypical]

On 10/10/2016 at 3:41 PM, NeuroTypical said:

Can I cut and paste this into my Facebook feed?  (Not to take credit, but to give a firsthand account of what's happening.)

Quote

Sure.

 

 

BTW, I now have nonmormons asking me how they can help and what they can donate.  Social media rocks.

[NeuroTypical]

Speaking of which, how exactly does a nonmember help the Mormon Helping Hands organization?  Is it even possible?

[pam]

20 hours ago, MormonGator said:

I don't think the average non member has a clue how much LDS charities help people out after disasters like this. Not an insult to non-lds. 

I don't think many members have a clue how much LDS charities help people out.  If they did, we wouldn't hear so much grumbling about building a mall, how much we spend on temples and other things.

[Guest]

14 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

Speaking of which, how exactly does a nonmember help the Mormon Helping Hands organization?  Is it even possible?

Yes, they can.  They just need to know someone in a ward that has been tapped to go on a service project.

When I went to Louisiana to help with the flooding, we had one person with us who was a non-member relative of one of our crew.  He stepped a little ways away when he had to have a smoke break.  He got a cup of coffee when the rest of us were getting our breakfast burritos.  That kinda clued me in.

[anatess2]

14 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

 

BTW, I now have nonmormons asking me how they can help and what they can donate.  Social media rocks.

AWESOME!  They can also call that same 800 number and tell them you want to help out.  We have several other churches and organizations in the area that are now involved in answering "tickets" with their work crews!

And, as of yesterday, my 2 teen-agers have had 3 offers to HIRE them after the disaster work is finished to fix fences!  One of them offered $50 to remove existing fence panels leaving the posts of a 60-foot fence.  Just remove and put out on the roadside for city pickup (I told them to chop it up for firewood instead).  Fifty bucks.  Not bad for 13 and 15 year olds...

Edited October 12, 2016 by anatess2

[Guest MormonGator]

2 hours ago, pam said:

I don't think many members have a clue how much LDS charities help people out.  If they did, we wouldn't hear so much grumbling about building a mall, how much we spend on temples and other things.

Building a mall? 

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Building a mall? 

Yes, the church participated in an urban renewal project in SLC.  

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/city-creek-center-an-economic-revitalization

[Guest MormonGator]

4 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Yes, the church participated in an urban renewal project in SLC.  

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/city-creek-center-an-economic-revitalization

That's actually awesome of the church to do because of the jobs it'll provide. How in the world could someone have a problem with that?

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

That's actually awesome of the church to do because of the jobs it'll provide. How in the world could someone have a problem with that?

As the arguments go...

1) The Church is supposed to be "above" commercial enterprises.
2) That's a waste of tithing funds.
3) It proves the Church is simply a commercial operation after all.
4) Blah Blah Blah... reasons.

Do people really need a reason to complain about the Church doing anything?  They just complain.

[Guest]

15 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

Speaking of which, how exactly does a nonmember help the Mormon Helping Hands organization?  Is it even possible?

Also go to 

https://www.justserve.org/

 

[Guest MormonGator]

20 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Do people really need a reason to complain about the Church doing anything?  They just complain.

 All true Carb. A lot of times criticism is about the critic. Not all the time, but a lot. If you and I see Casablanca and I think it's wonderful and you think it's garbage, it shows more on you than the movie.

Not you meaning Carb but if you don't like Casablanca @Carborendum, you got problems pal. 

I'm with the church 100% on this one. It's a good idea to help society though commercial endeavors. 

Edited October 12, 2016 by MormonGator

[pam]

19 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

As the arguments go...

1) The Church is supposed to be "above" commercial enterprises.
2) That's a waste of tithing funds.
3) It proves the Church is simply a commercial operation after all.
4) Blah Blah Blah... reasons.

Do people really need a reason to complain about the Church doing anything?  They just complain.

And the thing is..no tithing funds were used to build the mall.  It all came out of their business side of the Church.  Nothing to do with tithing at all.

[pam]

25 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

That's actually awesome of the church to do because of the jobs it'll provide. How in the world could someone have a problem with that?

And that's the thing.  It provided so many jobs for people.  But one of the big arguments was why didn't the Church use the money to help out people around the world?    The Church does.  It is always one of the first organizations at every disaster sending supplies and other things needed to help.

[Guest MormonGator]

5 minutes ago, pam said:

And that's the thing.  It provided so many jobs for people.  But one of the big arguments was why didn't the Church use the money to help out people around the world?    The Church does.  It is always one of the first organizations at every disaster sending supplies and other things needed to help.

Agree 100% @pam

[pam]

There will always be those who will debate the way the Church spends money.  Even tithing.  When it comes to tithing, the money doesn't belong to the Church, it's the Lord's money.  And that money is used to build up His kingdom.

[Guest MormonGator]

7 minutes ago, pam said:

There will always be those who will debate the way the Church spends money.  Even tithing.  When it comes to tithing, the money doesn't belong to the Church, it's the Lord's money.  And that money is used to build up His kingdom.

It's hard for non-members and members to understand. The questions my family asks about the church and if/how I donate money are numerous. To a believer, you can say "It is the Lords work and I trust the church." (That is what I believe). To a non believer, they will not accept that answer. 

Again, I'm not saying I distrust the church. I'm just saying that a nonbeliever won't really accept that answer. 

[pam]

7 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

It's hard for non-members and members to understand. The questions my family asks about the church and if/how I donate money are numerous. To a believer, you can say "It is the Lords work and I trust the church." (That is what I believe). To a non believer, they will not accept that answer. 

Again, I'm not saying I distrust the church. I'm just saying that a nonbeliever won't really accept that answer. 

Yep.  You definitely have to have a testimony of it to understand it.  

[Guest MormonGator]

4 minutes ago, pam said:

Yep.  You definitely have to have a testimony of it to understand it.  

Correct. It's hard for a non-believer to fully grasp it. In fairness, if a member of your family suddenly converted to another church you'd probably have questions too-at least at first. I think it's hard for all of us to really see how/what the other person thinks.