Right now, the big news in our community is that the church is shutting down the local canneries because they are too inefficient. A lot of church members have been shaken by this since they have been lead to believe that the canneries are all about promoting self-reliance in our communities and teaching people to cooperate and work for food. How will they do that since the church is shutting down all the local canneries and moving production to giant, fully mechanized canneries in Utah?

The spirit of service is being sacrificed in the name of profit.

The reason they are shutting down local canneries is to make more money. The man in charge of the LDS Welfare Program is Don R. Clarke. I know him personally because he was in charge of my mission. I know where his priorities lie because he came to our mission conference and told us that if we were not rich, we were not good Mormons like him. He then publicly humiliated an Elder that said that he wanted to be a band teacher. Clarke told him that that was a worthless profession and not worthy of a Mormon. After that, he told us not to encourage the local traditions, because they "hold the people back." He then bragged that he was the most humble man in the room and that he loved the poor more than anyone else. I kid you not.

This guy is in charge of the church welfare program.

Local canneries are inefficient and cost the church money because they have older, smaller equipment and they rely on untrained volunteers. They fit well with the old spirit of the welfare system, but are no good for a business.

In order to attract volunteers, the church has to promise volunteers that they can by church welfare goods at subsidized prices as long as they work at the cannery. A large amount of welfare goods are actually sold to members in order to make money for the church. The majority of the goods go to church welfare cases. Less than 5% of welfare goods go to non-member humanitarian projects.

Clarke realized that by mechanizing and centralizing the welfare system, he could make more money for the church by cutting out the volunteers. That way, the church will be able to sell its welfare goods directly to large corporations rather than making less profit and selling it to members. The church is also laying off a lot of its management in the canneries. I talked to several members that have been laid off. The church promised them "great positions at Deseret Industries." Obviously, these family men declined the offer.

Even members are shaken that the church is running its welfare system like a business. But there faith keeps them complacent. How sad.

I would like to close with a quote by Heber J Grant about the original purpose of the welfare program: “The building of character in the members of the Church, givers and receivers, rescuing all that is finest down deep inside of them, and bringing to flower and fruitage the latent richness of the spirit, which after all is the mission and purpose and reason for being of this Church”

With a mechanized welfare system that is engineered to maximize control and profit, it is plain that the church welfare program has strayed.

Related: they don't/won't let members build chapels anymore;
that has given them a sense of 'ownership', and is therefore BAD!

Could it also be a legal issue that they don't want to be sued for work done by unlicensed workers if someone gets hurt?

I've held a contractor's license, here (WA) the license was mostly a document that verified a bond & insurance. the on-the-job workers are seldom licensed, but a reputable contractor covers workers with worker's comp, which (I surmise) is also available to ChurchCo wherever they build.

Proper TRAINING is always indicated, in ANY position, entirely doable.

Remember the TOTALITY of Everything ChurchCo does; the result is usually to de-humanize. I don't know if that's their Plan, but it sure appears that way.

Cults Don't Care about the individuals, that was my main point, you're free to disagree.

Well, they are just putting the finishing touches on a new cannery/bishops storehouse/welfare depot in Lethbridge, Alberta....and the building is fancy enough to house a law firm or accountancy practice.....somebody's (Goddamn sure not my)tithing $$ at work....

Large for-profit organizations kill themselves if they're inefficient.

Richard N. Ostling and Joan K. Ostling, in their book. "Mormon America: The Power and the Promise," write that Mormon Inc.'s adminstration of member welfare services includes the operation of "[f]acilities [by] paid professionals as necessary . . . ." (p. 127)

Professionally-operated facilites thar are also closed as necessary.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2012 12:33AM by steve benson.

We're just seeing a business keeping up with the times. I see they are also getting a new white washer of history. It takes a lot of paint and new parts to keep a ship afloat.