With missionaries and members of the Church helping, volunteers recently unloaded 10,000 boxes of food sent from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to help those affected by Hurricane Otis in Acapulco, Mexico.
Almost two months after the powerful storm hit the Mexican state of Guerrero, the Church’s humanitarian aid efforts continued with the food donation on Dec. 18 to Mexico’s Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional, or the Secretariat of National Defense.
The food was delivered to an air base hangar in Santa Lucia. Air force staff used forklifts for the pallets while full-time missionaries and members of the Mexico City Tecamac Stake helped unload the boxes to then be distributed to those in need, reported a news release from the Church’s Mexico Newsroom.
Hurricane Otis made landfall on Oct. 25 and has been called the most powerful hurricane in history to hit Mexico’s Pacific coast. Hundreds of thousands of people were affected.
In November, during his ministry in Mexico, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles met with secretariat authorities and shared news of a $1 million donation from the Church for humanitarian relief.
The Church has also donated supplies to World Vision, Save the Children, the Mexican Red Cross and the TV-Azteca Foundation, donating to tens of thousands of people food, clothing, bedding, sanitation and cleanup supplies, first aid kits and other supplies needed by those trying to rebuild their community.
Acapulco cleanup day after Hurricane Otis
On a weekend in late November, around 400 members of the Church served in a large-scale organized cleanup effort around Acapulco.
At that time, a month after Hurricane Otis, evidence of the destruction was still visible with little progress made in cleaning what had been a major tourist destination in Mexico.
The Church members from the Acapulco, Costa Azul, Chilpancingo and Iguala stakes spent Saturday, Nov. 25, and Sunday, Nov. 26, after church meetings picking up garbage, sweeping streets and sidewalks, and removing mud, dirt, logs and stones.
Some of the volunteers traveled two to three hours to join the effort. Wearing yellow shirts with the name of the Church, the volunteers filled several army trucks and also several municipal garbage collection trucks with all the debris, reported a news release from Mexico Newsroom.
Mexican army Maj. Baltasar Cuenca, who helped coordinate the activity, expressed gratitude to the members of the Church for their organization and help.
“The participation of civil society and different religious associations — such as the Church of Jesus Christ in particular — is essential to achieve rapid progress in the recovery of community activities,” Cuenca said.
Residents also thanked the volunteers for the love they showed.
See more photos of the efforts below.
