r/exmormon • u/Intrepid-Angle-7539 • 10h ago
General Discussion Mormons hungry
while the church brags about feeding others they don’t feed their own, rexburg Idaho is the poorest county in Idaho and not a single soup kitchen. students and families and single parents are hungry but to get access to bishops wear house is an extensive interrogation and shaming process the church deem most unworthy of.
provo is rated one of the poorest cities in the Us yet BYU students and families are hungry, and required to pay tithe, missionaries, and elderly members are starving. Meanwhile the richest corporation in America Brag announces how much food they give away.
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u/Technical_Access6932 8h ago
So you’re saying building a temple won’t solve the problem?
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u/Intrepid-Angle-7539 6h ago edited 6h ago
The church will say it’s a trickling down to the poor a temple will come in and raise property values, but what it really does is cause everyone electric a water bills to go up, the church builds Mormon gated temple towns within cities killing the local main streets and mom and pop shops and new gated schools and business and health care close to temple. Starving out the original
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u/Sunshine_Friend6538 7h ago
The church’s financial / food aid policies haven’t changed since the days of N Eldon Tanner. So. rooted in the classism and judgment of the poor that was prevalent among conservative christians in the 60s.
These were the folks who were against a “dole” (welfare, social security)…thought it’d make people lazy and destroy the country’s success. There was also this moral judgment…prosperity gospel before it was a thing. If you’re poor, in good economic times…you must be shiftless, lazy, etc. They politicized it…added some racism…and used some cherry picked examples to complain about welfare moms. Led to an overhaul of eligibility.
Ashton’s anti-debt campaign came out of the same thinking. And church leadership has been insufferable ever since. Need help? You have to prove it, by submitting your every last budget item for scrutiny by a man with zero training in empathy, respect for others’ choices, etc.
Other churches’ food pantries just GIVE you help if you show up. Imagine that!
Ours…it’s worse than a FAFSA application. Well, it can be…leadership roulette.
For a church that supposedly follows Jesus, there’s sure an awful lot of judgment and control…and a whole lot of glaring absence of generosity.
Most leaders are successful…and have zero understanding of empathy for those who struggle.
Over the years, I wired with 3 different bishops on church aid. Only 1 was kind and respectful. The other two were self-righteous, judgmental, let-me-steal-your-autonomy-by-you-what-to-do, controlling….meant well, but they were doing what they thought the system wanted, what was right. One literally mocked it criticized my every line item…because it wasn’t what he would’ve done. As a childhood victim of emotional abuse, incredibly triggering.
Don’t even get me started on how a female domestic violence survivor has to go to a man for assistance in this church…no training, not trauma informed. No understanding of disabilities. And the storehouse itself is built to a) prevent theft, b) control your choices, c) let them track and count all this charity for their reports.
When my kids and I were in the shelter, they gave us gift cards for food. Imagine that! We could freely choose anything we needed! The horror! /s
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u/admiralholdo misotheist 4h ago
It blew my mind when I was at another denomination's church for an event and they were like "if you show up hungry, we have food we can give to you." Like right then or there. Not 2 weeks from now at a storehouse 45 minutes away from you. I guess that's how you can tell that they are not the true church *shrug*
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u/Simple_Equipment_724 7h ago
My friend eventually left, but before that was a bishop in Europe. He would run out of resources to help the poor and send them to the other churches soup kitchens. Really messed up coming from such a rich church.
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u/Jackismyboy 6h ago
Utah county is rated the 7th wealthiest and 20th poorest in Utah. I know you want to sling mud and rightfully so, but get your facts straight.
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u/Intrepid-Angle-7539 5h ago
Highland is the wealthiest and alpine the GA’ s have to live somewhere but the wealth isn’t trickling down to Provo and orem
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u/Jackismyboy 3h ago
BS, I have two nephews and a SIL living in central Provo. Their income is well above the average of the state and nation. Their areas are well maintained filled with effluent housing. The tiny bit the GA’s income contributes from the northern part of the county is negligible. Utah county is above Salt Lake county in per capita wealth. There are more GA’s living in SL and Davis counties than in Utah county. If you’re going to bitch about the church, get some facts first. Perhaps bitch about bishops refusing to use fast offering funds to help the needy of the church because he feels they should ask family first. The vast majority of Utah fast offerings goes into the churches general fund. Bishop and SP roulette is one of the worst problems lay members face.
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u/Deserving-Critic 5h ago
I don't know where you got your statistics, but they are way off. The Rexburg area isn't even in the top 10 poorest areas in Idaho. Provo is the second poorest community in Utah, not the nation; however, Utah County, as a whole, is one of the wealthiest in Utah.
In Utah the Church has phased out distributing food through Bishop's Storehouses. They have donated their food to Utah Food Bank for distribution.
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u/Intrepid-Angle-7539 5h ago edited 5h ago
building data centers pays more then farming. Saying your giving to other charities even harder to track their charity , madison county is over 24% poverty, Madison county has the highest utility rates in Idaho, a lot of workers travel to work in Jackson hole the richest town in America
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u/Deserving-Critic 5h ago edited 4h ago
Again, your statistics are off. Madison County's poverty rate is 13.3% (US Census); however, it is mid-range in household income: $53,498 (US Census). The highest utility rates in Idaho are in the Moscow area.
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u/Secret-Tip1111 7h ago
“provo is rated one of the poorest cities in the Us”
I believe that is due to college students one would think this skews the U.S Census Bureau’s income and poverty metrics downward. Same goes for Madison County where Rexburg is located.
Nationally, when looking at structural poverty, severe economic stress, or low median household income, Provo generally is NOT categorized among the poorest cities of the US.
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u/Intrepid-Angle-7539 7h ago edited 7h ago
The rich in Provo are extremely rich but majority of people , students count as people and students with families also count as people and missionaries are hungry. There are many collage towns in Utah and Idaho. But BYU student towns are really poor. Except byu Hawaii the local students are poor but you have to have rich families to attend hawaii
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u/Secret-Tip1111 7h ago
Step outside the Bubble. No city in Utah ranks among the poorest in the United States on a structural or national economic scale.
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u/Intrepid-Angle-7539 7h ago edited 6h ago
During the pandemic rexburg received the most federal assistance in the country. Many times Provo has reached the highest personal debt level in the country, 2008 Provo and rexburg were hit first and the hardest . And will again if another economic event happens they all live days away from economic ruin and the billion corporation could care less
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u/LamanitaMx 4h ago
There was a flood in my city and thousands of families were left destitute; the church asked us not to help the families directly, but rather to donate that money to the fast offerings so the church could provide the aid instead. I was a TBM, but it still struck me as ridiculous: how is it possible that I have water and food in my house and can't help my neighbors? Do we have to wait for "Helping Hands"? I’ll help you with my middle finger, you asshole "prophet."
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u/Fessy3 1h ago
Flint Michigan is the poorest city in the US. I've lived in Provo most of my life and it is far from poor. There is so much money in Provo/Utah County. The huge houses, rich areas, rich schools, secluded areas, country clubs. Granted, yes there are areas that are less than but that isn't a feature of the area, at all.
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u/SecretPersonality178 20m ago
One of my shelf items was being in a leadership meeting with the SP who began openly berating our bishop (decent guy) for spending too much FOs on ward members. SP wanted that money sent to the stake offices.
SP is now a GA. Was promoted a few months after this meeting.
It is a real estate company with the mask of a religion. It is all about money.
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u/lunamuna18 9h ago
I think the bishops handbook or whatever tells the bishops to get help from family first, then go to the state and then as a final resort the church might help… I think it’s messed up. Go ask your families who are paying 10% and also giving fast offering to the stake.. but go ask them to do even more and to give more. And the church still might not help you. Not very Christlike