Address Given by President Spencer W. Kimball at the Welfare Services Meeting Saturday, April 6, 1974
Brethren, it is wonderful to be with you here this morning in this important work. I hope you made notes of what President Tanner has just said. I hope you have made notes of everything you heard President Romney say.
I was much impressed with what Sister Spafford told us and the film that we saw. One of the things that impressed me was the compassionate service of the sisters, the young sisters and the older sisters, who would go into the homes of those who were distressed and give them succor.
We have had many calamities in this past period. It seems that every day or two there is an earthquake or a flood or a tornado or distress that brings trouble to many people. I am grateful to see that our people and our leaders are beginning to catch the vision of their self-help.
Let me say that as a stake president long ago, we had a flood in the Duncan Valley in Arizona. As soon as we overcame the excitement of the first report of it, my counselors and I formulated a telegram and sent it to Salt Lake City and said, “Please send us $10,000 by return mail.” I found that I was learning about welfare programs when no $10,000 came. When President Lee, President Romney and President Moyle came down and took me back in my little office in my business place we sat down around the table and they said, “This isn’t a program of ‘give me.’ This is a program of ‘self-help.’” And so we learned much from those brethren.
The other stakes in Arizona over the weekend gathered many hundreds of dollars and the presidents of those stakes came rushing in and I remember Lorenzo Wright of the Maricopa Stake in Mesa pulling out of his pocket checks, and bills, and cash, and that was all given to us. After we got in gear and saw that the problem was ours and that we had plenty of people who hadn’t been distressed and plenty of people who had the means, we went to work. My office was on Main Street and every day I would see passing my office truckloads of hay and wire and posts going up to Duncan because the flood had washed out the valley fences, barns, and haystacks. It had torn down all the fences, and had left hills where there were hollows and vice versa. Then we got the county to let us use some of their big equipment and it wasn’t so very long until the land was leveled; the fences were built; the clothes had been cleaned that were hanging in the closets and covered with mud; and we had helped ourselves; and we had relieved the problems that had brought distress to so many people.
Now it would have been an easy thing, I think, for the Brethren to have sent us that $10,000 and it wouldn’t have been too hard to sit in my office and distribute it; but what a lot of good came to us as we had hundreds of men go to Duncan and build fences and haul the hay and level the ground and do all the things that needed doing. That is self-help.
Only a few days ago we received a telegram from a remote part of the Church where they asked again for a lump sum of money to take care of the needs of the people. And of course our program is self-help. There are always plenty of people who have been distressed that can stretch a little and can take care of the work.
Now I think the time is coming when there will be more distresses, when there may be more tornadoes and more floods, as we had up in the Portland area, more earthquakes as we had down in California, and elsewhere. I think they will be increasing probably as we come nearer to the end, and so we must be prepared for this.
Another thing, which has already been mentioned, is that of being more generous with our fast offerings. We do not have projects in all the world, as we are expanding so rapidly in the overseas areas. We haven’t established farms and other projects there as we have here, but there is no reason why the latest organized branch cannot take care of itself in large measure if we pay our fast offerings. Sometimes we have been a bit penurious and figured that we had for breakfast one egg and that cost so many cents and then we give that to the Lord. I think that when we are affluent, as many of us are, that we ought to be very, very generous.
I don’t know if you receive them, but every week, every mail, I receive two or three or a dozen applications for charity, from all over the world saying: “Please send us money to help these poor people that are starving and homeless.” Now then our work should go to our own people first, of course, and I have recently made up my mind. I just throw them into a pile and think, “Well, there is another $5.00 that could go to the fast offerings.” I think we should be very generous and give, instead of the amount we saved by our two meals of fasting, perhaps much, much more—ten times more where we are in a position to do it. I know there are some who couldn’t.
Something was said about gardens and about trees. I should say that in our little yard Sister Kimball is our farmer, and she nearly feeds us through the year from that little yard in the back. We have carrots, and we have apricots, and we have applesauce, and we have other things that help. Then she plants beans along the grillwork of our back porch, down among the roses, and they climb up over all this grillwork. I joke with her a lot of times about having done that so she can sit in her rocking chair and pick the beans, but we just almost live on beans and it is good food, very good food. The little gardens and the few trees are very valuable. I remember when the sisters used to say, “Well, but we could buy it at the store a lot cheaper than we can put it up.” But that isn’t quite the answer, is it, Sister Spafford? Because there will come a time when there isn’t a store. I remember long years ago that I asked a very prominent grocer who had a chain of grocery stores, “How long would your supply of groceries last if you did not have trucks to bring in new supplies?” And he said, “Maybe we could stretch it out two weeks from our storehouses and from our supplies.” People could get awfully hungry after two weeks were over.
There are so many things we should talk about in this great work. I would like to just say, “Bishops, don’t let yourselves be imposed upon.” President Romney mentioned one area. I mention another. I have talked to numerous people in these last years, many of whom have said, “My bishop is stingy. He will hardly give me anything.” Now, brethren, we must not have waste. These people, if they are in need, should earn, as it has been talked about. That is a little harder work for you, bishops, but that is your job. It isn’t an easy job. We knew that when we called you, but it is your job to give them what they actually need. Let them use such abilities as they have and time and effort to pay for it, if they can, in labor or otherwise. Don’t let this precious Welfare Program come to waste, but be generous in the sense of what they need.
Now may the Lord bless you. It is wonderful to be with you here this morning and see your great interest. I want to tell you, brethren, how we love you. We are so proud of you and every week when we pass upon new bishops, we just think there is another great man receiving his great opportunity, perhaps the greatest of his life.
God bless you. We pray for you and we ask his blessing upon you always, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.