Donations from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Central and South America in 2024 included providing educational support, food security and healthcare to those in need.
Members of the Church also volunteered in humanitarian efforts in their communities during the year, including responding to natural disasters, donating blood and giving one-on-one aid.
Worldwide, the Church expended $1.45 billion in 192 countries and territories in 2024. These expenditures helped care for those in need through humanitarian efforts, outreach and relief, food and commodities, fast-offering assistance and more. Through funding and commodities, the Church supports thousands of humanitarian projects around the world without regard to race, nationality or religious affiliation.
This caring for those in need is part of the Church’s efforts to follow the example of Jesus Christ and live the two great commandments to love God and love one another.
The following is a small sampling of some of this giving and service during 2024.
Medical and mobility aid
Members of the San Salvador El Salvador Cuzcatlán Stake participated in a blood drive to benefit the Zacamil National Hospital in El Salvador in November 2024.
Hospital staff collected 64 units of blood, enough to save around 190 lives, reported the Church’s Spanish-language Newsroom.
“The example that Christ gave us of giving His life, which He offered for each one of us, allows us to emulate this love by giving our blood, which can save the lives of other people,” said Cristian Iraheta, member of the stake Relief Society presidency.
The Church donated 450 wheelchairs and other assistive equipment such as canes, crutches and spare parts to benefit people with disabilities — especially those living in rural areas — at an event for the Weaving Hope program on Oct. 15, 2024, in La Paz, Bolivia.
Even more wheelchairs have been donated through the Solidarity Foundation in Paraguay. Over the past 13 years, the Church has donated nearly 10,000 wheelchairs to the foundation, with a donation of 1,576 wheelchairs and 330 assistive devices in 2024.
Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, along with his wife, Sister Susan Gong, commemorated mobility aid donations in Paraguay in November 2024.
In November, the Church also made a donation to the Colonias Health Center in the municipality of San Pedro Ayampuc, Guatemala.
The donation included: stethoscopes, stretchers, pediatric scales, digital thermometers, laboratory refrigerator, stainless steel tables, glucometers, waiting room chairs, computers, printer, power generator, stove, microwave, oasis fans, metal shelving and transportation, among other medical equipment and furniture — reported the Church’s Spanish-language Newsroom.
During the ceremony for the donation, Elder Patricio Giuffra, a General Authority Seventy and first counselor of the Central America Area presidency, said, “This donation is possible thanks to many people from different parts of the world and many people from Guatemala. As a Church, we are supporting other areas, such as education, but today we are here to support and improve your health with this donation.”
Mental health for migrants
Donations from the Church have also helped migrants in Colombia, Ecuador and Honduras get the medical care they need, including urgent mental health care.
The Church donated $3.4 million to Project HOPE to help improve the health of vulnerable populations.
One psychologist with Project HOPE, Dr. Marilyn Garcia, is working with families in Ecuador to help them deal with uncertainty.
“They struggle with uncertainty, so to be able to provide those resources to them and help them, it makes them feel more relaxed,” Garcia said. “It’s like they have more confidence in saying ‘I know what’s the next step that I have to do.’”
Emergency relief
After severe flooding displaced 200,000 people in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, the Church established 21 shelters, distributed food packages and delivered 6 tons of emergency supplies to the area.
In Chile, the Church organized volunteer efforts along with local government and other organizations to provide aid after deadly and destructive fires around Viña del Mar, Chile.
More than 100 local Church members lost homes in the fires, but despite their personal loss, many helped their neighbors by distributing bottled water and supplies, as well as cleaning and removing debris.
Nutrition for babies and children
In Mexico, the Church donated to the Muuchi Xiimbal A.C. Foundation to provide food supplements to 1,500 people in the city of San Gregorio Cuautzingo.
The foundation works to address problems such as child malnutrition. The Church’s donation of 900 basic food kits and 1,500 spirulina food supplements also included food education activities for parents.
Education for parents is also part of the Relief Society’s global initiative for women and children, which is putting money into efforts to particularly bless the lives of women and children under 5 years of age through the areas of maternal and newborn care, child nutrition efforts, immunizations and education worldwide.
Sebastiana Jorge, a mother in Guatemala who benefited from the program after her 1-month-old was diagnosed with chronic malnutrition, said she received support for several months as her baby grew.
“When attending the days of measurement of height and weight, I saw the love with which they treated everyone who attended,” Jorge said of the support of her local Church leaders.
