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Caring for the Poor and Needy
Welfare Assistance
Welfare assistance is the use of Church resources to meet the needs of individuals and families who find themselves without basic life-sustaining goods and services. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, bishops are given the responsibility to seek out and assist those are in need. The purpose of assistance is to help members develop spirituality, become self-reliant, and learn to provide for others. Assistance is considered temporary in nature and is given after the recipients have done all they reasonably can to provide for themselves. When possible, recipients should work for what they receive.
"No true Latter-day Saint, while physically or emotionally able, will voluntarily shift the burden of his own or his family’s well-being to someone else. So long as he can, under the inspiration of the Lord and with his own labors, he will work to the extent of his ability to supply himself and his family with the spiritual and temporal necessities of life" (Spencer W. Kimball, "Welfare Services, The Gospel in Action," Ensign, Nov. 1977, 77–78).
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