Humanitarian Service is Goodwill for the Church

On Wednesday, December 14, dignitaries from Guyana’s Ministry of Health and representatives from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered for the official “handing over” of a semi-truck sized container filled with 235 wheelchairs, walkers, canes and crutches. Elder Lynn and Sister Sharon Angus’ efforts to help the disabled in this South American country is just one of many projects designed to spread goodwill and friendship for the Church and its members throughout the West Indies Mission.

Over the past several months, the Anguses have been involved in the donation of an X-ray machine and autoclave to a hospital in St. Lucia. In Barbados, members from two Church branches worked shoulder-to-shoulder to create 600 hygiene kits – some will be distributed by the branches and some by the Ministry of Health – for use in times of emergency. Humanitarian Service funds were also used to refurbish a neighborhood special needs school in St. Vincent. The school’s kitchen, to be used for life skills training, saw the addition of cupboards and appliances and through HS funding, the school now also has a playground and grass. In a Georgetown, Guyana neighborhood, a community center received a gas stove, 2 large folding tables, 50 chairs, kitchen wares, cots and mattresses, books and bookshelves.

In the new year, the Humanitarian Service missionaries will focus much of their time on helping to teach and train recipients of chicken coops and chicks and will help families create backyard gardens to build self-reliance among members and friends of the Church in Guyana. They will also finalize plans for delivery of computers to four local prisons to enable prisoners to develop marketable skills.

Throughout the Caribbean, government officials and agency recipients of the Church’s generosity are united in their praise: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a valued senior partner and one of our most efficient and responsive donors.”