One is inclined to think of the Church Welfare Plan as originating in the 1930s. In truth, the principles that undergird it go back much further than that and, indeed, are part and parcel of the gospel of Christ as restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith.
This is illustrated in the reaction of President Brigham Young after hearing of the plight of the Willie and Martin handcart companies stranded and suffering on the trail to the Salt Lake Valley.
At a general conference of the Church, his directives were clear: "On the 5th day of October, 1856, many of our brethren and sisters are on the plains with handcarts ... and they must be brought here, we must send assistance to them. The text (of the conference sermons) will be 'to get them here.'...
"I will tell you all that your faith, religion, and profession of religion, will never save one soul of you in the celestial kingdom of our God, unless you carry out just such principles as I am now teaching you. Go and bring in those people now on the plains, and attend strictly to those things which we call temporal, or temporal duties, otherwise your faith will be in vain; the preaching you have heard will be in vain."
Response to President Young's call was immediate and decisive.
Perhaps the full extent of the rescue efforts will never be told. Co-authors Heidi Swinton and Lee Groberg have summarized: "Some rescuers spent weeks involved in the rescue process, others only a few days, and some few simply went from their homes in outlying communities to Salt Lake City to bring survivors back to their towns for care. Hundreds of people ... donated generously to the relief, but did not themselves go to the rescue, ... although the rescue could not have happened without their aid."
A hundred fifty years after the fact, the valiant efforts of these people are an example to today's Latter-day Saints who are called upon to contribute fast offerings and humanitarian aid and participate in storehouse and other Church welfare work projects. — R. Scott Lloyd
Sources: Andrew D. Olsen, The Price We Paid; Swinton and Groberg, Sweetwater Rescue.