Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints practice principles of self-reliance, and we seek to help others do the same.
Self-Reliance Courses
Self-reliance courses help Church members learn principles and skills that will empower them in caring for their own needs. Courses include topics such as how to find a job, how to start a business, how to manage finances, how to build emotional resilience, and more.
Environmental Stewardship
Members of the Church believe that caring for the earth is closely tied to caring for those in need. Church members participate in hundreds of environmental projects each year, planting trees and organizing cleanup in their local communities. We believe these efforts help preserve the earth, provide for future generations, and make the earth’s resources more readily available to those in need.
Education Programs
We believe that learning is a life-long pursuit—one that brings us closer to God and promotes dignity and self-reliance. The Church undertakes hundreds of humanitarian projects each year to enhance access to education for those in need.
Food Production and Distribution
For many struggling with hunger and other urgent temporal needs, it is difficult to focus on long-term self-reliance when short-term needs are not being addressed. The Church operates 12 farms, three gardens, and four orchards as a way to produce food for those in need, as well as processing facilities such as the Deseret Mill and Pasta plant. The Church operates 124 bishops’ storehouses, where local leaders can refer individuals in need to receive food and other items free of charge. In locations without access to goods from a bishops’ storehouse, leaders often make arrangements with local grocery stores to meet the needs of Church members.
Family Services
Family Services is a Church-sponsored organization that helps provide effective care and resources for those with social and emotional needs. The addiction recovery program is one resource offered through the Church’s Family Services organization. We also offer counseling to individual Church members, families, couples, single expectant parents, and missionaries serving in the Church. Family Services offers psychological first aid skills across the world through trained staff and volunteers.
Employment Services
Employment Services provides tools and coaching to help Church members and others find jobs, start businesses, and progress through their careers. In 2022, thousands of job seekers learned skills such as how to create a resume, interview for a job, and search for work. Those in the Active Job Search program share job leads, receive support, and practice job-search skills.
Deseret Industries
Deseret Industries (DI) helps Church members and others overcome barriers to employment. These barriers might include physical disabilities, mental health struggles, criminal records, or a history of addiction. DI supports the community by providing necessities at an affordable price (or no cost, with a referral from their bishop).
Transitional Services
Sometimes people need support as they integrate into their community. This could include people exiting correctional facilities, experiencing homelessness, or recovering from trafficking, as well as veterans or individuals who have recently immigrated or fled their home country. Transitional Services provides support to these individuals—both Church members and those in the community—as they begin a new chapter of their life.
“Being temporally prepared and self-reliant means ‘believing that through the grace, or enabling power, of Jesus Christ and our own effort, we are able to obtain all the spiritual and temporal necessities of life we require for ourselves and our families.’ ”
— Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric