When bombings began in Awadeya Mahmoud’s village in Sudan, she and her family “fled into the unknown with no destination in mind.”
Two days later, Mahmoud and her children made it to another village.
“The war displaced my whole family, and my children never healed from the horror they felt,” she told World Food Programme workers in the African country. “They refused to eat or drink. They were just crying.”
But after finding shelter, she and thousands of others received food and help from the World Food Programme. Mahmoud put her skills to work and started cooking for fellow displaced people.
“We are on full stomachs now,” she said of the families who escaped with her. “I was given flour, oil and yellow split beans.”
More than 4.8 million people have been displaced since April 2023, fleeing to refugee camps in Sudan and bordering countries of South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia and Egypt.
A recent $4.25 million donation from the Church to World Food Programme allows the nonprofit organization to supply rations such as cereals, oil, legumes, supplemental bars and ready-to-eat meals to help people such as Mahmoud.
And $4 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will provide shelter and core relief items such as blankets, kitchen sets, sleeping mats, mosquito nets and solar lamps.
These donations are an example of how the Church strives to care for those in need through service, emergency response, worldwide aid and more.
President Russell M. Nelson has said the two great commandments are a guide: First, to love God, and second, to love one’s neighbor.
“Giving help to others — making a conscientious effort to care about others as much as or more than we care about ourselves — is our joy. … Living that second great commandment is the key to becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ,” President Nelson said (“The Second Great Commandment,” October 2019 general conference).
In the last several months, the Church has donated money to promote health and child nutrition, provided supplies for schools and hospitals, and given funds to help after natural disasters all over the world.
Church donations for health and child nutrition
On Aug. 11, the Church announced a combined $44 million in funding for several organizations working around the world to increase childhood nutrition.
“Providing life-sustaining relief for vulnerable mothers and children is an important part of the Savior’s work,” said the Church’s Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé. “We are grateful to collaborate with so many others who help alleviate hunger and poverty. May God bless them and others whose generous contributions make this possible.”
The projects — set to take place in 30 countries — will promote and incorporate principles of self-reliance and engage in evidence-based solutions to combat growing malnutrition rates before age 5.
The funding is going to CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Helen Keller International, The Hunger Project and several other organizations.
Blaine R. Maxfield, managing director of the Church’s Welfare and Self-Reliance Services, said the growing levels of child malnutrition are a key priority for the Church.
“Our collaboration with these organizations helps provide relief to vulnerable children and mothers worldwide. These joint efforts will bless nearly 2 million lives in 30 countries. This response demonstrates our commitment to the two great commandments. We show our love to God by reaching out to care for His children, whatever their location or background.”
Then, a $10 million donation from the Church to UNICEF was announced on Aug. 17.
The money will strengthen health systems in the Central African Republic, Haiti, Mali and Mozambique. These areas have high rates of maternal and infant deaths. Improved health infrastructure and human resources are needed to keep mothers and children healthy and safe.
“As Latter-day Saints, it is our joyful privilege to work together in weaving a tapestry of hope and healing for all of God’s children,” said Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson. “We are grateful for our longstanding collaboration with skilled professionals at UNICEF who extend the reach of our helping hands.”
A historic malaria immunization campaign is underway in Africa with a $3 million contribution the Church made in June.
The Church’s donation will help give an estimated 39,500 children the new RTS,S malaria vaccine — strengthening the coordinated efforts of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; UNICEF; World Health Organization and others.
As a direct result of the donation, each child will receive the four doses required for immunity against malaria. This is part of a large, multiyear campaign to vaccinate 4.5 million children through 2025.
“This long-awaited effort to immunize children against malaria will truly save lives,” President Johnson said. “It is a beautiful way in which we can help to provide relief, as the Savior would.”
Bishop Caussé said: “This highly needed, new RTS,S malaria vaccine will help protect thousands of young children from this deadly disease. We are grateful to be a part of this historic initiative.”
Supplies for schools and hospitals
The Church announced an $8.7 million American Red Cross donation in April to fund biomedical equipment, mobile blood donation centers and programs to assist those with cancer or sickle cell disease.
The donation is part of the ongoing collaboration between the Church and the Red Cross.
“We are profoundly grateful for our long-standing and remarkable collaboration to deliver urgently needed relief for people facing life’s emergencies,” said Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the Red Cross. “The Church’s incredible financial support and the steadfast commitment of your members make a difference for people in need every day.”
Bishop Caussé added: “We are pleased to contribute to the American Red Cross and support their life-sustaining services and programs in this new year to help care for those in need. We recognize and are grateful for the thousands of Church members who rolled up their sleeves to give blood and donate so much of their time.”
Donations from the Church to local schools and training programs have taken place all over the world in recent months, with the goal of providing more resources to increase self-reliance.
For example, students in Zambia were sitting on the floor until a donation from the Church provided funding for more classroom space and 500 new school desks. And eight schools in northern Peru received new school furnishings to allow for more students to study.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Church supported the GRAME Foundation in training 150 women for dressmaking and design, beauty, hairdressing, and baking. The training programs are designed to give marketable skills to women so they can become financially self-reliant.
“Educate a woman, and you educate an entire nation,” said Didier Mutombo, Church Welfare and Self-Reliance Services manager for west-central Africa.
A donation in Ecuador included psychomotor kits, food and supplies for people with disabilities who are living in poverty or abandonment, or who are at risk of dependency because of their disability.
Quito Ecuador Colón Stake President Juan G. Tenen Donoso said: “The donations that you see here are thanks to the faithful members, who through obedience to tithes and fast offerings make it possible to help those who need most in any part of the world.”
The Church continues to provide not just wheelchairs to those in need around the world but also training in proper fit and usage of those wheelchairs.
This was demonstrated recently in Brazil when Sister J. Anette Dennis, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, visited the Association of the Physically Disabled in Goiás State and saw the Church’s support. The Church has donated over 1,000 wheelchairs to the organization and provided training for physiotherapists.
Help after natural disasters
After the deadly and devastating wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui, Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, announced a $1 million donation for the Red Cross to help relief efforts.
The donation has supported the organization’s efforts to provide shelter to survivors, food, bedding, hygiene kits and other supplies, as well as medical, mental health and family reunification services.
Bishop Waddell and Hawaii Gov. Josh Green toured the Kahului Hawaii Stake Center to see how it had quickly been turned into a shelter for evacuees.
“What you are doing is extraordinary for the people of Maui,” Green said. “We need everyone together. I think this kind of crisis brings people together. The sense of loss is there. There are people feeling desperation. They feel their lives, if they weren’t lost in the fire, may be lost in other ways. You will lift them up.”
In May, Bishop Waddell spent two days in earthquake-devastated Turkey, where he signed off on donations, reviewed recent humanitarian aid and learned about additional needs in the area. The Church contributed over $13.5 million in aid by early April through 20 relief projects in Turkey and Syria.
New projects since then involve distributing food boxes, hygiene kits, bottled water and children’s clothing to those affected by the earthquakes. All items are sourced and purchased locally, allowing the local economy to get back on its feet.
“[W]e stand resolute in our commitment to alleviate suffering, maintain human dignity and instill hope to all those affected,” said Christian Ottiker, welfare and self-reliance manager for the Church’s Europe Central Area.
As Kenya has been dealing with drought, the Church has worked to help the people there, for example, with a $1 million donation in March.
Elder Ian S. Ardern, General Authority Seventy and president of the Africa Central Area, oversaw distribution of 1,000 containers with enough food to sustain families of six for up to four weeks.
“The experience reminded me of the Savior and the feeding of the 5,000,” Elder Ardern said. “You will recall that it was a lad (John 6:9) who brought the five loaves and two fishes, and, figuratively, on this occasion, the Church was the lad. We brought what we could and felt that the Lord would bless the Church’s effort.”
Church members rallied to clean up communities after torrential rains in Vermont and a hurricane in Florida.
Like in Hawaii, the Church opened four meetinghouses to house people and serve meals after a cyclone caused heavy flooding in Malawi. The Church received extensive recognition from local government leaders and media for its humanitarian work during that time of crisis.
And when a cyclone damaged a school in New Zealand, the Nuhaka Ward in the Gisborne Stake opened its building to allow students to meet inside during the week.
“Thank you is a term that is just not big enough in this case,” the school principal, Raelene McFarlane, said. “This is truly the spirit of the Māori word ‘aroha;’ that’s the closest thing that comes to my mind.”
“The love, the concern, the caring ... [the Church] saved us, one hundred percent. That is my belief, so thank you so much.”
