Canned items are a giant a part of Latter-day Saint historical past.
Metaphorically, preservation is a vital worth for Latter-day Saints. All through the Ebook of Mormon, authors steadily used the phrase “make a document.” Within the Doctrine and Covenants, Joseph Smith is commanded to maintain a document. Whereas these quotes check with the preservation of historical past, Latter-day Saints have at all times centered on preserving meals as effectively.
In the course of the pandemic, Latter-day Saint journalist McKay Coppins wrote concerning the “pioneering spirit” of meals preservation for The Atlantic.
“On a metallic storage shelf within the nook of my storage, dozens of multi-liter cans are stacked on prime of one another.” Coppins wrote. “They’re filled with dried carrots and pinto beans; wheat, oats, and powdered milk: sufficient meals, a minimum of in idea, to maintain me, my spouse, and our three youngsters fed for a number of weeks in an emergency.”
Coppins expressed admiration for this behavior, which dates again to the church’s admonition for members to be ready. Members are suggested to have meals storage in case of job loss, or within the occasion of large meals shortages. These rules of self-reliance have sturdy roots for Latter-day Saints. However they’re additionally linked to charity.
How Latter-day Saints started utilizing meals storage
I’ve written earlier than concerning the miracle of the seagulls, which performed a task in why Latter-day Saints shortly banded collectively to create meals storage.
William Hartley advised the story of the seagull miracle in Utah Historical past Quarterly. The pioneers, who started arriving within the Salt Lake Valley on July 22, 1847, had struggled with the brand new terrain, and a few frosts destroyed their crops.
The frost and the crickets had disastrous results. Eliza R. Snow is recalled to have stated: “The frost this morning, along with the ravages of crickets throughout the previous couple of days, produces a lot sighing, and infrequently some lengthy faces.” Apparently, there have been “hundreds of thousands of crickets,” or a minimum of that is what considered one of Lorenzo Dow Younger’s wives wrote in her diary.
Though the gulls swooped in to save lots of the day and allowed the Saints to reap scant crops lest they go hungry by the winter, their place on the western frontier was delicate. In order that they finally began storing meals the place attainable, however not only for self-preservation.
Meals storage for charity and preparation.
One of many first efforts to retailer meals was led by the Reduction Society.
The Ephraim Reduction Society granary started operations in 1876. After the Saints did not retailer grain, President Brigham Younger requested Emmeline B. Wells to direct the grain storage program.
The aim of accumulating grain was each in order that the pioneers might assist themselves and to have a big provide of grain to provide to the poor and needy: it was known as Salvation Wheat.
Florence Peterson Fake wrote: “When it was lastly crushed, Sarah had raised 60 bushels of wheat. This he divided with the settlers: it was her salvation, for she by cautious and frugal stewardship offered bread for the little settlement all winter lengthy. They known as it ‘Salvation Wheat’ and when it was nearly gone, Sarah put a few of it in a bit of bottle to point out her husband when she acquired again from her mission.”
By this time, the Latter-day Saints had already established Bishop’s Shops. The Prophet Joseph Smith acquired a revelation in 1831 relating to the necessity for shops, and the primary was notably Newell Okay. Whitney’s shops. The church had made varied efforts to preserve meals for preparation and charity.
The institution of the wellness program.
For a number of years, native congregations and the Reduction Society performed applications to protect meals for preparation and charitable functions.
However then the church consolidated its efforts and created the welfare program that exists in the present day. In keeping with Church Newsroom, “In April 1936, the Church formally organized a welfare program to assist Church members affected by the devastating results of the Nice Despair. At the moment, that wellness program has expanded to all corners of the world, serving to members and folks of all faiths and no religion in any respect.”
This wellness program consists of bishop’s warehouses, processing crops, mills and extra. Probably the most well-known units of amenities is known as Welfare Sq.. Church Newsroom wrote that Welfare Sq. is “positioned close to Church headquarters in Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah. Welfare Sq. is the most important focus of Church-owned welfare amenities. The buildings embody a cannery, a milk processing plant, a bishop’s warehouse, a thrift retailer, an employment heart and silos the place wheat and different grains are saved.
Along with Welfare Sq., the church established a number of native canneries the place Latter-day Saints preserved meals.
United States President Ronald Reagan visited the church’s welfare cannery in Ogden together with future church presidents Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson.
The church’s welfare program, which nonetheless exists in the present day, stems from the Latter-day Saint custom of conserving meals to maintain the neighborhood and giving generously to these in want.
![United States President Ronald Reagan and future church presidents Gordon B. Hinckley, center, and Thomas S. Monson, tour the church's welfare cannery in Ogden, Utah, in 1982.](https://deseret.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a5d073c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/864x660+0+0/resize/840x642!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FnEfc2HRRbwTwWp6iJogSFvmlqAY%3D%2F0x0%3A864x660%2F864x660%2Ffilters%3Afocal%28432x330%3A433x331%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F17664836%2F1226143.jpg)
United States President Ronald Reagan and future church presidents Gordon B. Hinckley, heart, and Thomas S. Monson, tour the church’s welfare cannery in Ogden, Utah, in 1982.