The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released a new statement stressing the importance of home storage and of securing a financial reserve.
The statement came in a letter dated Jan. 20, 2002, signed by President Gordon B. Hinckley and his two counselors, and sent worldwide to priesthood leaders, including stake presidents and bishops.
The text of the letter is:
"Priesthood and Relief Society leaders should teach the importance of home storage and securing a financial reserve. These principles may be taught in ward councils or on a fifth Sunday in priesthood and Relief Society meetings.
"Church members can begin their home storage by storing the basic foods that would be required to keep them alive if they did not have anything else to eat. Depending on where members live, those basics might include water, wheat or other grains, legumes, salt, honey or sugar, powdered milk, and cooking oil. . . .
When members have have stored enough of these essentials to meet the needs of their family for one year, they may decide to add other items that they are accustomed to using day to day.
"Some members do not not have the money or space for such storage, and some are prohibited by law from storing a year's supply of food. These members should store as much as their circumstances allow. Families who do not have the resources to acquire a year's supply can begin their storage by obtaining supplies to last for a few months. Members should be prudent and not panic or go to extremes in this effort. Through careful planning, most church members can, over time, establish both a financial reserve and a year's supply of essentials."
The letter also lists on its reverse side the suggested amounts of basic foods in home storage, for one person for one year, though they may vary according to location.
For example, it suggests 400 pounds of grain per adult; 60 pounds of legumes — beans, split peas or lentils, etc.; 16 pounds of powered milk; 10 quarts of cooking oil; 60 pounds of sugar or honey; eight pounds of salt; and 14 gallons (a two-week supply) of water.
Home storage is not a new emphasis in the LDS Church. It has been taught for approximately 65 years.
"Let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand enough food and clothing, and, where possible, fuel also, for at least a year ahead," President J. Reuben Clark Jr., first counselor in the First Presidency, said during General Conference in April 1937, in what may be the earliest encouragement for home storage.
This advice came about a year after the LDS Church welfare program started.
Elder Ezra Taft Benson, eventually the 13th president of the church, said in 1973: "The Lord has warned us of famines, but the righteous will have listened to prophets and stored at least a year's supply of survival food. . . . The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah."
President Hinckley also addressed debt and food storage as recently as the October 2001 general conference. He said members should eliminate debt where possible and even save a little "for a rainy day." He also reminded LDS members of long-standing counsel to have some food set aside in case of need.
"Let us not panic nor go to extremes. Let us be prudent in every respect," he said.
For more information on food storage, the official LDS Church Web site www.lds.org, has 523 references listed on the subject search in its "Gospel Library."
A search for "food storage" on the Internet brings up a total of 3,469 sites. There are also LDS-oriented home storage books available in local bookstores.
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com