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| Understand Welfare Organization |
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Relief Society
Historical Role in Welfare
The Relief Society was organized by the Prophet Joseph Smith on 17 March 1842, in Nauvoo, Illinois, when some of the women of the Church came to him wanting to form a women’s society to provide charitable services for those in need. He organized them into a society for "the relief of the poor, the destitute, the widow and the orphan, and for the exercise of all benevolent purposes" (in History of the Church, 4:567). Since that time, the Relief Society has played a key role in creating effective solutions for welfare needs, including wheat storage, service to unwed mothers, adoptions, service to needy youth, educational placement for Native American youth, health missionaries, nursing education, health-care clinics, and national and international relief efforts in addition to supporting local efforts to care for the poor and needy in stakes and wards.
"This (the Relief Society) is an organization of the Church established by the Prophet Joseph Smith. It is, therefore, the oldest auxiliary organization of the Church, and it is of the first importance. It has not only to deal with the necessities of the poor, the sick, and the needy, but a part of its duty—and the larger part, too—is to look after the spiritual welfare of the mothers and daughters of Zion; to see that none is neglected, but that all are guarded against misfortune, calamity, the powers of darkness, and the evils that threaten them in the world" (Joseph F. Smith, in Conference Report, Oct. 1906, 3).
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