Welfare Square Tour - Salt Lake City

Maybe not the first place you visit on a trip to Salt Lake City, many will find this tour interesting if you are stuck at the airport or looking to understand better just how the church operates. Tours leave from Temple Square, the Airport or just drop in with your car. It was not until my wife became a relief society president that she became interested in taking this tour. Her calling in the church required distributing much of the food and products to the needy people where we live in Seattle. During a return visit, since we never saw it the 4 years we lived in Utah, we dropped in. Tours are every hour Monday to Friday. Welfare Square was the first major facility built under the church's welfare plan that grew out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. Today, the facility is used to feed hunger needs around the world. Other than supporting struggling members over the years, they supply needs to non-members and various countries that have asked the church for assistance. Welfare Square contains a 178-foot-tall grain elevator, a large storehouse, a bakery, a cannery, a milk processing operation, a large thrift store, and an employment center. The tour starts with a short video in a Visitors Center next to the Bishops Storehouse. The tour then walks you through the Bishops Storehouse, which is similar to a grocery store. Then depending on what is open, you tour through the bakery and cannery. Next is the Deseret Industries sorting facility and the store walk-through. Finally, the tour ends in the dairy building. You may even get to sample some of the products here like wheat bread, butter, jam, honey, peanut butter, cheese and chocolate milk. Along the way, the sister missionaries share as much information as they can remember.

Members of the church who are in need of food, clothing or furniture speak with their bishop, who is the presiding leader in a designated area. The womens relief society then helps with these orders and their specific needs before sending them to the bishops storehouse to fill the orders. Working there are other member volunteers or recipients of food and services. For everyone that comes in and has orders filled, they are asked that they do four to five hours of service. It is not required, but it helps them to build their independence. People who receive goods for free tend to become dependent and the goal is to help people help themselves. For people who do not have bishops and are not members of the church, orders are filled for them as well. Funds to assist with maintenance costs come from Fast Offerings by church members. On the first Sunday of every month, church members skip meals and donate what they would have spent on those meals to the church. One hundred percent of fast offerings go toward helping the poor and needy. Members are not required to donate but most do.

Welfare Square Tour - Salt Lake City

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