Welfare Square

Welfare Square grain silo

Welfare Square is a complex in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), to provide material assistance to poor and otherwise needy individuals and families. Welfare Square is part of the Church's Church Welfare System. It includes a 178-foot (54 m) grain silo, fruit orchards, a milk-processing plant, a cannery, a bakery, a Deseret Industries thrift store, a private employment office, and the LDS Church's largest[1] Bishop's storehouse, as well as associated administrative offices.[2]


Welfare Square provides regular employment for approximately 50 people, in addition to the 200 rotating volunteers needed to provide its services and run its operations. Fast offerings from local LDS congregations fund its operations.[2]

History

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Welfare Square was created in 1938,[2] under the direction of the Church's General Welfare Committee, which itself had been formed just two years earlier.[3] Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, as the United States was experiencing the Great Depression Welfare Square became the flagship of the Church's Welfare Program.

A four-year renovation started in the late 1990s, and was completed in 2001. The 1940 granary building was the only structure on the site that was not significantly refurbished or newly built at that time.[4] The concrete grain elevator can hold 318,000-US-bushel (11,200 m3) of wheat (about 19 million pounds).[5]

In 2011 the Utah legislature passed, and the governor signed, a bill commemorating the founding of the LDS Church's Welfare System,[6] of which Welfare Square is the centerpiece.[5]

Values

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As part of the LDS Church's larger Welfare Program, all aid received at Welfare Square is based on personal responsibility, thrift, and work; recipients of aid may be asked to volunteer their time after receiving help.[7][8]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ "Welfare Square: Place of Hope for the Needy", Newsroom (News Story), LDS Church, 6 January 2010
  2. ^ a b c Haws, T. Glenn (1992), "Welfare Square", in Ludlow, Daniel H (ed.), Encyclopedia of Mormonism, New York: Macmillan Publishing, pp. 1558–1559, ISBN 0-02-879602-0, OCLC 24502140
  3. ^ "Economic Opportunity: Welfare Square, Salt Lake City, November 30 - December 01, 2011", philanthropyroundtable.org, Philanthropy Roundtable
  4. ^ Moore, Carrie A. (September 6, 2001), "Welfare Square work completed", Deseret News, archived from the original on May 18, 2015
  5. ^ a b Wadley, Carma (September 6, 2001), "Welfare Square: Priceless commodities", Deseret News, archived from the original on May 18, 2015
  6. ^ "H.C.R. 301: Concurrent Resolution Recognizing the 75th Anniversary of the Welfare System of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", LE.Utah.gov, Utah State Legislature
  7. ^ Frederickson, Kristine (June 5, 2011), "LDS Church Welfare's aims and purposes", Deseret News
  8. ^ Collins, Lois M. (April 8, 2011), "Self-reliance at heart of LDS Church and other helping programs", Deseret News, archived from the original on March 4, 2016

References

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Further reading

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40°45′11″N 111°54′47″W / 40.753°N 111.913°W / 40.753; -111.913

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