A bishops storehouse is a place where members of the LDS community can come to and receive aid in times of trouble or disaster. The funding needed to run the bishops storehouse comes directly from the LDS community which is asked to donate a modest sum every first Sunday of the month. This tradition is called a fast offering and it has been around since Joseph Smith Jr. was given a revelation. He was told by the Lord to open up a storehouse in which to gather goods and keep them there for the needy.
At first, the Church organized the fast offering on Thursdays but then it moved it to Sunday because it was hard for people on a work day to fast for two meals. The money they now save on those two meals goes to the Church. Of course, if a person or a family can afford to donate more, then the donation is welcomed as well.
Within the bishops storehouse, people can find food, goods and household items. There is also a reliable workforce associated with the storehouse which provides help when it comes to reconstructing homes, for example. Furthermore, the storehouses are currently being modified so that they can incorporate several other services like the Employment Resource Center, the Deseret Industries and the Family Resource Center. Welfare centers are also added wherever possible and Distribution Centers as well.
Whenever there is a disaster, a bishop will call a state of alert to the storehouse and get things moving. Deseret Industry is a transportation service owned by the church which is used to carry out goods and provisions to people who need them but cannot make the road themselves. In social cases, a bishops storehouse order form has to be filled in by the person in question and then he or she will have to wait for the bishop’s approval. Once this is done, the person can simply walk into the bishops storehouse and get whatever they need and has been approved by the bishop.
The work needed to maintain, organize and stock up the storehouse is done for the most part by volunteers. This is a tradition that ensures that the storehouse runs smoothly at all times and with the lowest costs possible. It is also a custom for the Church to ask the people it helps with social cases to give back something for the help they received. This usually means volunteer work at the storehouse and, if the person has no stable job, then further, more permanent solutions (like a job provided by the Employment Resource Center) might be in order.
The president of the Relief Society, along with the bishop is running the storehouse. Only these two people can give out passes to social cases. In instances where people need help but they have no means of getting to the storehouse, the Deseret transport system may be used, if deemed necessary. This is done by the bishop in charge of the parish from which the person in need of help is.
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