The LDS church has announced many temples last General Conference. I live in Texas near Houston to be exact and we are preparing for hurricane Beryl.
https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2024/07/02/hurricane-beryl-now-a-record-breaking-category-5-whats-next/
If needed will the LDS church in Texas become a shelter? We know that the LDS church has a 100 billion dollar rainy day fund. Would the LDS church consider a hurricane a rainy day?

Fat chance. They can’t have unworthy strangers in the Ward house!

At the moment, Beryl is just a tropical storm, though it is expected to get back to some level of hurricane strength by tonight.

Is opening churches as shelters during hurricanes standard operating procedure? Do churches put plywood over their windows?

There was a fire in the canyon between Rockport Reservoir and Kamas Utah about a decade ago. It is a rural area and the only big building near the reservoir was a stake center. They did open it as an evacuation center for a day or two. So it does happen.

Brother Of Jerry the LDS church is making a big deal about the McKinney temple and the hight of the staple. Yes "Mormon helping hands" the yellow shirts came out after Harvey and Ike. Why spend so much money on temples to do the work for the dead when there are many homeless people that

I asked if other churches are used as emergency shelters during hurricanes because if they are not, then it is a cheap shot to blame LDS Inc for not doing it. If other churches do serve as emergency shelters, then it is a fair complaint.

I used to live in serious blizzard country on the Northern Plains. If the highways were shut down, stranded travelers were expected to stay in local hotels. but sometimes there were more stranded people than the hotels could handle, and a city-owned arena was set up as an emergency shelter - blankets, first aid supplies, and blizzards don't usually affect food, water and power, though there might have been an emergency generator. Food, water and generator would probably be needed for a hurricane shelter. I don't think churches would routinely have any of that, but you live there, I don't, which is why I asked.

>the LDS church is making a big deal about the McKinney temple and the hight of the [steeple].

Which has zero relevance to whether they open local ward houses as emergency shelters during hurricanes.

>Yes "Mormon helping hands" the yellow shirts came out after Harvey and Ike.

So they do render some aid. The yellow shirts may be self-serving, but it is also both handy and reasonable when working in a flood zone the people might not be familiar with, and with people who might not all know each other, to have some way to identify members of the group. And as I mentioned, they did open an Utah stake center for people forced to evacuate because of a wildfire in the area. Both points are relevant to your OP.

>Why spend so much money on temples to do the work for the dead when there are many homeless people that

Again, no relevance to OP. So you think temples are expensive boondoggles. But surely you don't begrudge them owning chapels. Spending more on the homeless is a different issue from opening a church building as an emergency shelter in. hurricane.

And even OP was a rhetorical question, with no attempt to actually answer it. Maybe under the right circumstances they would open a ward house as a shelter. I cited a specific instance.

Sometimes they do something right. Hey, it happens. :)

Yes, earlier this year some churches in Washington opened their doors as shelters.


https://www.exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,2504134,2504251#msg-2504251

Bother of Jerry, I take it back the LDS church does help the homeless.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2024/07/19/lds-church-gail-miller-family-kick/

“Switchpoint, a nonprofit aimed at sheltering Utahns experiencing homelessness, is adding on to its supportive housing complex for seniors and veterans with the help of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Larry H. & Gail Miller Family Foundation and a state fund.

The building, known as the Fairpark Deeply Affordable and Permanently Supportive Housing project, will get upgrades and an addition, thanks to twin $1 million grants from Utah’s predominant faith and the Miller Family Foundation, along with $1.8 million from the state’s Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund.”

One church is doing it.

https://www.facebook.com/leaguecitystake/

Funny that my Mom's old church , Clear Lake Presbyterian is also included in that for being a Red Cross Center. I worked at City Auto Parts on Main Street in League City in the late 70's. There wasn't much there then. I did have to go to Clear Creek HS for my freshman year until Clear Lake HS opened the net year.

League City Stake Page

"The Armand Bayou sacrament meeting is cancelled today due to further deterioration of the environmental conditions in the Clear Lake building."

    Because I'm of a curious bent, I did some snooping and found a set of four very evocative photos from what I'm guessing is from the League City Stake Facebook page, which is where the quote originates.

    My only question is if the photos show a ward function or a stake function.  Back in my youth, the ward turnout would have matched what the photos show, but I'm guessing that because it's a 'stake' FB page, this is a stake function.

    It's still mildly impressive.  Too bad that ghawd headquarters in SLC is too strapped for cash to jump on remediating the Clear Lake building...

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=881188504045330&set=pb.100064625652422.-2207520000

    Click forward three times for the additional "1950s" photos.

Good luck and stay safe, subeam!

Keep your head on a swivel and maybe this is Mother Nature’s way of saying, “you might want to think about moving to higher land. That or start digging a storm shelter.”

2008 during hurricane Ike we evacuated to the Madisonville branch. About 30 people from my ward I was active at the time evacuated including the bishop and his wife and children to the Madisonville branch. The problem was that the Madisonville branch building also lost power. During hurricane Harvey we did our own thing without the ward.

Someone from Utah must have picked the name "Beryl".

Nope. It's old and Greek and a mineral.

bradley Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Someone from Utah must have picked the name
> "Beryl".


Only if it rhymes with burl. That's the only way I have heard it (very rare occasions) there.

Been thinking about you and wishing you the best.

Thank you.

No, they won't. They never do. No unclean heathens allowed in their sanctuary. Where in Houston. I grew up in Clear Lake and we had a total of 7 mormons in our High School of 2800 kids. Nobody knew what a wardhouse was or where it is. The good part is that those Texans take care of each other. They don't need and help from churches, their friends, neighbors, family and strangers will help each other out.

Growing up inside the church I was thought that the LDS church does the most good in the world better than any charity. The fastest growing religion. Now I see that Mormonism is not the fastest growing religion. I thought that the true church led by a living prophet would be the first ame best to respond to emergencys because God had warned the prophet ahead of time. Silly me. Fast offerings are to help ward members in need and not the tithing money. God helps the person who helps themselves or something like that. I believed that my tithing money by giving it to the LDS church would do the best possible for those in needs. No the LDS church has money and could pay the janitors nope members are cleaning the chapel for free. Brother of Jerry my rambling is coming to an end basically in my opinion if I follow the money I don't think Jesus would spend it like that.

subeamnotlogedin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Would the LDS
> church consider a hurricane a rainy day?

It is literally quite a rainy day. So they can't argue that point. I hope they help in meaningful ways.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/texas/article-13617189/Texas-mega-pastor-Joel-Osteen-offers-help-Beryl-victims-Houston-slammed-heatwave-double-punch-hurricane.html
"Osteen's Lakewood Church opened up as a cooling station Tuesday morning, the congregation announced on its social media feeds."

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2024/07/11/churches-offer-emergency-response-after-hurricane-beryl/
"In the Galveston and Houston area, where the hurricane hit hardest, Catholic churches, among others, are rushing to provide aid, according to Catholic News Agency."

https://www.chron.com/culture/religion/article/hurricane-beryl-christian-response-19568038.php
" Houston's religious communities have graciously pitched in: Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church opened its 16,000-seat facility, the former Houston Rockets' basketball arena, to people needing AC, water or electrical outlets to charge up their phones and other devices. Champion Forest Baptist Church and Clear Lake Presbyterian Church are serving as shelters, according to the Office of Emergency Management in Houston. Leaders of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, which oversees dozens of faith centers in the region, told me that several mosques with power were open and acting as cooling centeres, including the Masjid Al-Aqsa in Katy and the Masjid Attaqwa in Sugar Land.

The city of Houston and its politicians have also partnered this week with libraries, YMCAs and nonprofits to open several cooling stations and distribution sites for ice and water. Houston City Councilor Tiffany Thomas has worked with the Church Without Walls to serve food and water in the Alief neighborhood. Councilor Mario Castillo teamed up with Yale St. Baptist Church to help those in Independence Heights Community. And Judge Erica Hughes joined Higher Dimension Church to provide supplies in northwest Houston."

I will keep "googling" maybe I am doing the LDS church wrong and they did use some of their rainy day fund to help during hurricane Beryl? So far it appears to me that churches who are not as rich as the LDS church have done more.

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/state/2024/07/11/mattress-mack-houston-gallery-furniture-store-open-hurricane-beryl-victims-power-outage/74364344007/
Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale opened the Gallery Furniture store on 6006 North Freeway in Houston as a shelter on Monday morning as rain from Hurricane Beryl led to flooding across the area.

The lds church has a justserve website.

https://www.justserve.org/projects/07bf2312-acec-4c5c-9c93-bed33c9e5cce/hurricane-beryl-crisis-cleanup?shiftId=6a06a159-1496-448f-819b-ac6189a87451


"Crisis Cleanup needs several volunteers to handle phone calls to and from property owners that are seeking help in cleaning up their damaged property, including mucking out flooded homes and clearing property of tree limbs and debris. Phone volunteers will help identify the needs of the callers so that crews from various organizations can be sent out to provide assistance in an orderly and efficient manner.

Volunteers can determine how much time they want to spend making or receiving calls, and they can work from home or any other location.

To get started, volunteers must watch a few short training videos here.

For questions or to obtain more information, please contact Kerving Joseph at kervinghjoseph@gmail.com.

Wheelchair accessible
Point of Contact
Kerving Joseph
kervinghjoseph@gmail.com
Volunteer Interests
Community
Disaster Relief"

Yes, I live near Houston and many people are still without power after Beryl. I got lucky my fence blew down and some tree branches but my roof stayed intact. Sorry to vent about this yet again but this is a "rainy day" not for me but for many people around me dear LDS church. My cousin who has 7 children her roof got damaged and it rained inside her house. She has a missionary serving in Peru right now. Even if the lds prophet could just say those who were affected by Beryl don't need to pay tithing for 3 months would help.

https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2024/07/11/beryl-update-flooding-tornadoes-texas-power-outages/

Again, I am looking online maybe I am doing the lds church wrong but so far I see very little help from them during Beryl.

        

Here is another

https://www.facebook.com/HoustonNS/

https://www.facebook.com/kleinchurchofjesuschrist/

Here is how the LDS wards are helping.

For a long time, Texans were glad & somewhat proud to not be connected to outside electrical energy (informally termed The Intertie) but recent events aren't helping Texans.

Fun Fact:

There are 3 major & 2 minor interconnection groups for the U.S. including much of Canada.

Like I said I live near Houston and Beryl did a lot of damage.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/20/us/texas-houston-power-outage/index.html

Basically I see an opportunity for the lds church to help out here.

The LDS church is helping with Beryl.

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/latter-day-saints-around-the-world-july-2024

https://universe.byu.edu/1998/01/19/lds-church-helps-to-weather-the-storm-in-the-eas/

“Several church meeting houses in Montreal and Ottawa were without power, so a number of generators from the bishop’s storehouse in Indianapolis were shipped up to that area for use,” said Don LeFevre, manager of Print Media Relations for the LDS Church.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/energy-environment/2024/07/30/495218/centerpoint-hurricane-beryl-costs-houston-customers/

"It took a matter of hours, maybe even minutes, for Hurricane Beryl to knock out electricity for more than 2.2 million customers in the Houston region."