On Jul 24, 8:32=A0am, Exposing the Mormon Church
<summeroverwin...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Mormon food-storage warehouse sees business jump
> Wednesday, July 23, 2008
> By Krista J. Kapralos
> The Herald
>
> MUKILTEO, Wash. =97 Food storage warehouses owned and operated around
> the country by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are
> stocked with nonperishables sealed to withstand natural disasters,
> virus pandemics and even the Great Tribulation, that biblical era of
> suffering said to precede the end of the earth.
>
> In recent months, the warehouses have become more popular with Mormons
> who worry (lack of faith) about a threat more subtle than the drama of
> Armageddon: high food prices.
>
> =93When food prices rise, the cost of my food doesn=92t,=94 said Jenny
We=
bb,
> a Mormon mother who feeds her husband and three children meals based
> on her pantry=92s rotating stock of spaghetti, wheat, beans and other
> goods intended to stay edible for 30 years.
>
> Webb, 37, said she has enough food in her pantry to feed her family
> for at least three months if her husband loses his job, an earthquake
> turns grocery stores to rubble, or market prices swell too much for
> the family to afford.
>
> She buys many of her pantry staples at a church-owned warehouse in
> Mukilteo, where food sales have increased to staggering rates over the
> past two months.
>
> A year ago, church members bought and canned about 18,000 pounds of
> food for themselves and their families at the warehouse each month,
> said Al Cripe, a church elder who, with his wife, Opal, runs the
> Mukilteo warehouse.
>
> Last month, church members bought and canned about 62,000 pounds of
> food, Cripe said. The warehouse bought a second can sealer three weeks
> ago to help expedite work for Mormons lined up at the warehouse=92s
> canning station.
>
> =93This is going on throughout the country,=94 he said.
>
> Webb said she=92s not sure how much money she saves by using the church
> warehouse. Like many Mormon women, she was raised on food storage and
> doesn=92t know any other way.
>
> Church leaders since the time of Brigham Young have commanded their
> followers to store up food for three months, a year, even seven years.
> The end could be nigh, they said, and Mormons should be prepared.
>
> =93Natural disasters are going to happen right before the second
> coming,=94 said Alissa Howell, 50, referring to the Mormon belief that
> Jesus Christ will one day return triumphantly to Earth. =93But even
> people who don=92t believe in the second coming talk about earthquakes,
> and that the =92big one=92 is coming.=94
>
> When it comes, whether an earthquake or a natural disaster signaling
> the end times, Howell said she=92ll be prepared not only to feed her
> family, but also to feed her neighbors.
>
> That=92s a sense of pride shared by many Mormons who stockpile food from
> the warehouse.
>
> =93If you=92re not a Mormon and there=92s an earthquake, the next best
th=
ing
> is to have a Mormon neighbor,=94 said James Amis, who runs the
Bishop=92s
> Storehouse, a small grocery in the warehouse that offers free food and
> toiletries to families in need.
>
> Today, the church owns nearly 100 warehouses throughout the country.
> Church-owned farms and factories produce wheat, dehydrated fruit and
> vegetables, beans, and other long-term pantry items. Short-term
> storage items, such as canned chili, cocoa mix and pancake mix, are
> produced under the Deseret brand, based in Salt Lake City.
>
> The food is sold to church members at cost, Amis said.
>
> =93The church isn=92t making any money off this,=94 he said.
>
> Trucks based at a large church-owned facility in Hermiston, Ore.,
> deliver with increasing frequency giant bags of food, as well as cans
> and pouches for long-term storage, to the Mukilteo warehouse.
>
> The warehouse is open to people who are not Mormons, Amis said. More
> people who are not church members have come to the warehouse in recent
> months than ever before, he said.
>
> The women who gathered Tuesday morning at the warehouse to can sugar,
> beans and cocoa mix shared cautionary tales of families who lived off
> their long-term storage pantries for months when a husband lost his
> job.
>
> =93You never know when a family is going to have hard times,=94 said
Lare=
e
> Ricks, 49, of Redmond. =93It may be a loss of a job for a short time, or
> it may just be that gas is so expensive that you want to conserve in
> other ways.=94
>
> Ricks said she=92s never lived without a deep store of food tucked away.
> Her cans are stored in her garage, but many families slide boxes
> beneath beds, behind shelves, in clothes closets.
>
> =93When it=92s a priority, you find room,=94 she said.
>
> Most families rotate the food in their long-term storage so that
> nothing is more than a few years old, but others find themselves with
> stockpiles of wheat or rice that could feed a small army.
>
> =93I=92m eating rice we=92ve had at home for 20 years,=94 Amis said.
>
> Faced with cooking from bags of hard red wheat and dry pinto beans,
> Mormon families get creative. Stacks of recipes are set up near the
> warehouse=92s checkout table: 15-minute barbecued beans. Eggless
> chocolate cake. Nutritional Soup from Bean Flour.
>
> =93I bought a wheat grinder so I can make flour from my wheat,=94 Webb
> said. =93The wheat stores longer than regular white flour.=94
>
> Most young Mormon couples are overwhelmed at the prospect of creating
> long-term storage, said Opal Cripes. Church leaders encourage them to
> start small with a church-sanctioned =93Starter Kit,=94 which includes
> hard red winter wheat, white rice, pinto beans and quick oats, for
> $34.25.
>
> =93It=92s eye-opening for people who realize that we have a religion
that
> not only cares about our souls, but also cares about our basic needs,=94
> Webb said.
>
Lance is something wrong. This is a pro-mormon article. Maybe the meds
are working?
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