IDAHO GOES DOWN In a recent press release, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that it would contribute 42,000 pounds of food to the Idaho Falls Community Food Basket in order to help meet its requirements.
The donation, which is expected to arrive on Thursday, August 21, will include 24 pallets of food, including flour, chocolate pudding, green beans, and beef stew.
Ariel Jackson, the executive director of the Idaho Falls Community Food Basket, stated, “We ran some numbers in July and we had started noticing a decrease in donations and we’re down between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds of food for the same timeframe last year.” Usually, we can solve problems by thinking our way out of them, but I’m having trouble coming up with a solution for this one. After learning that we were having trouble feeding families and that our donations were declining, the LDS Church decided to provide 24 pallets of food. About 42,000 pounds of food, to be exact.
According to Jackson, donations to the Idaho Falls Community Food Basket have drastically decreased from prior years. This donation will undoubtedly lessen the strain, even though it won’t completely compensate for the drop in donations.
According to Jackson, they had previously collaborated with the LDS Church. According to Jackson, since the organization began collaborating with the Church in 2020, the foodbank has gotten about four truckloads of food.
Jackson remarked, “It seems like every time we are somewhat behind or struggling, they (the LDS Church) hear about it and give us what they can.”
RELATED | The local food bank’s capacity to assist low-income families is being severely hampered by a sharp drop in donations.
According to Jackson’s press release, Community Food Basket has been helping people get through difficult times by giving them enough emergency food for seven days for 45 years this year. According to Jackson, in order to accommodate the consistent rise in need that has been observed over the past few years, we have had to reduce that number to five days. During a time of tremendous need, The Food Basket is extremely grateful for this very generous donation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Without it, this constant rise in the number of people in our area experiencing hunger and food insecurity would have put an extreme strain on our limited resources.
Many of the other non-profits in the area use the Community Food Basket of Idaho Falls as a hub. According to the announcement, in addition to serving individuals in five counties, the Community Food Basket also supplies food and other assistance to thirty other nonprofit organizations, schools, shelters, and senior centers.
Thank you for the food delivery from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, according to the Community Food Basket statement. This food is a blessing as our community’s need increases and donations—including the food we rescue—decline.
The donated food will be shipped from Salt Lake City’s Bishops Storehouse. According to the press release, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints constructed the 570,391-square-foot Bishops Storehouse as a welfare facility to aid the organization in disaster relief efforts and provide care for anyone in need, irrespective of their religious beliefs.
In a press release, Kevin Call, the vice chairman of the Regional Council for Christian Ministry and the Regional Interfaith director of the Church of Latter-day Saints, stated that it has been a great blessing to be able to work with numerous local churches to address food insecurity. As RCCM members, we value the chance to assist with the Community Food Basket’s food needs and participate in a food delivery from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
