Young people spark optimism as Latter-day Saints celebrate a global partnership feeding the hungry

Lauren Jardine normally serves volleyballs for the University of Utah, but she served and loved her neighbor Thursday by packing boxes of canned food with 150 other young adult volunteers in west Salt Lake City.

The Utah volleyball team had the day off from practice and every player rallied to a teammate’s last-minute call to help feed 900 families by boxing items for food pantries at the Bishops’ Central Storehouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The event was part of a two-day celebration of the notable 10-year partnership between the Latter-day Saints and the U.N. World Food Programme that has fed 6.6 million people in 46 countries over the past decade.

The church has donated at least $46 million to the WFP during that time, based on public reports.

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is our most important partner,” said Barron Segar, president and CEO of World Food Program USA. “They are our first responder. When there’s an emergency, they’re the first ones to call us and we’re the first ones to call them for funding. They immediately respond.”

“Fewer people are hungry today because of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the World Food Program,” he said.

The church donated another $2 million this week to help build an emergency response warehouse in Barbados that will serve countries in the Caribbean. WFP USA provided $2.3 million for the project.

Charities and governments will pre-position food, cots, clothing and other supplies at the warehouse, said Claudio Silva, CFO and COO of WFP USA.

Officials said they hope the warehouse will be built and operating before the next hurricane season begins.

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“When a hurricane hits or a volcano erupts, we want to make sure that the response is immediate and the people who have been affected don’t have to wait for weeks to receive support. The support will be 24-72 hours away because it’s already in that warehouse,” said Lola Castro, the U.N. World Food Programme’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

“This is a very valuable, sustainable contribution that we are making together with the World Food Program and the church,” she said. “It’s going to change the lives of many people and countries in the Caribbean.”

The church made a $32 million donation — the largest humanitarian donation in church history — to the U.N. World Food Programme in September 2022. The two organizations continue to roll out that aid.

“We are very grateful and honored to have a relationship with the church,” said Segar, the WFP USA president. “I want church members to know the church does a lot of good, and more good than a lot of media reflects.”

Segar visited Liberia last month to meet with Elder S. Gifford Nielsen, president of the church’s Africa West Area and government officials. He saw how the church’s donation and the World Food Programme are helping 750 farmers in 25 towns across 15 districts grow more food, eat better and generate additional income.

“The values of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the World Food Program align,” Segar said. “It’s very important that we ‘love thy neighbor,’ whether that neighbor is here in the United States or that neighbor is in a war torn area somewhere else in the world.”

World Food Program USA held a strategy meeting in Salt Lake City on Wednesday. They toured the Bishops’ Central Storehouse on Thursday. They also were greeted by two members of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles — the quorum’s acting leader, President Jeffrey R. Holland, and Elder Ulisses Soares. WFP officials were scheduled to attend the rehearsal of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square on Thursday night.

The partnership with the WFP expands the church’s reach, said Bishop L. Todd Budge, second counselor in the Presiding Bishopric.

“What’s been so important about this partnership is that the World Food Programme has the logistical capability to get the food to the end of the row to those who need it most,” Bishop Budge said. “That’s something that’s hard for the church to do. We’re a global organization, but we just don’t have the boots on the ground and the experience in some of these developing countries, so they’ve been a great partner.”

Bishop Budge said the World Food Programme is one of the church’s largest humanitarian partners.

“These are sacred funds, so it’s important to us that they’re used wisely and that they actually get to those who need them,” he said. “And we trust the World Food Programme.”

Segar said there are more than 330 million people around the world facing acute hunger.

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Relief Society General President Camille Johnson said the way to tackle such a large problem is to follow the church’s mandate to help the “one.”

“We’re finding the needs of the most vulnerable and we’re addressing the needs of the most vulnerable,” she said. “We assess needs globally, we try to take a world view of the needs, but we take care of people one by one by one.”

She said the church and the World Food Programme have been able to help those who are displaced, who are in war-torn areas or have been the victims of natural disasters.

“When we find those ones, and can address those needs, we’re fulfilling our purpose,” she said. “We’re loving our neighbor and we’re bringing relief.”

Jardine said the hard work she and her volleyball teammates do on the court translated into packing and taping boxes on Thursday for Tabitha’s Way, a food pantry in Utah County. She said it’s normal for the whole team to show up when the player in charge of community service calls for help.

“Helping hundreds of families locally is so important because these are really hard times right now,” said Jardine, an outside hitter and Latter-day Saint from Alpine, Utah, who won a national championship at the University of Wisconsin before transferring to Utah. “I’m really grateful our team is willing to help each other as teammates and to help the community.”

Some of the volunteers were from the JustServe Club at Woods Cross High School. JustServe.org is a website sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ to help pair volunteers with needed service.

The Bishops’ Central Storehouse was a cacophony of music, voices and the sounds of assembly lines filling and packing 900 boxes.

Sister Johnson said the image of all of those young people working so hard for others made her optimistic.

“What I see are young people who are outward facing, who want to be part of a global cause for good. They’ve come out today because they’re anxious to help, they want to serve, and they want to change the world,” she said.

“The way we change the world is one by one by one. We have big global ideas, but we address the needs of the one, and that’s what they’re doing, putting a single jar of peanut butter in a box and moving it on to the next person to add more.”