LDS Church launches an ambitious plan to stock up food banks and celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday

The government shutdown might be over, but hunger in America isn’t.

That’s among the reasons five semitrucks — each laden with 20 tons of canned fruits, vegetables and meats; pasta; flour; pancake mix; dried milk; and other goods — rolled out from Utah on Thursday morning and headed for food banks in Eugene, Oregon; Lonoke, Arkansas; Columbia, Missouri; Texas City, Texas; and Grand Blanc, Michigan (the latter in gratitude for the city’s support after an attack on a Latter-day Saint congregation there).

It’s all part of a partnership between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a nonpartisan congressional commission — America250 — organizing next year’s 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The plan for the coming year is for the global faith to provide 250 such truckloads of food to 250 food banks across all 50 states.

“This is truly a historic moment for all of us,” Rosie Rios, chair of America250 and former U.S. treasurer, said at a news conference at the church’s Bishops’ Central Storehouse, a giant welfare facility on the western edge of Salt Lake City. “What we just saw in our tour of the storehouse reminds us all why we do what we do. … This is really, for me, a moment of unity, not just independence. It’s unity here in what the church is doing, what the church has always done, and what the church continues to do.”

The aim is “to engage all 350 million Americans in this effort,” Rios said. “This milestone today is such an opportunity for all of us to reflect on what the spirit of America really is, what our values really are, and what we want to embrace, not just in the moment, but in the movement. …To capture the essence of the American spirit, there’s nothing better than this concept of service.”

Rios was reared as a Catholic in the San Francisco Bay Area, and across the street was “a Mormon family that we absolutely adored,” she told The Salt Lake Tribune. “Religion, for us, was our common thread. We all believed in the values of family, faith and community. We were blessed to have them as neighbors.”

Across many faiths, several speakers at the news conference said feeding the hungry is key teaching.

In her travels, Tracy Y. Browning, a counselor in the church’s Primary General Presidency, often asks children, “How can you serve someone this week?”

One of the most common answers that they give “is to share their food with one of their friends,” Browning said. “This teaches me that even our youngest children recognize when their friends are hungry and instinctively want to help fill empty bellies. Their natural inclination to notice hunger in their friends and respond with compassion and support reminds us why this effort really matters.”

Setting a volunteerism record

As part of America250, organizers would like to make 2026 a record-setting year of volunteer service as part of “building unity and strength through our united service among all Americans,” said church general authority Seventy Michael Dunn. “We’re going to utilize, as a part of that, the church’s JustServe program that connects volunteers and vital community causes all over our great country.”

On top of that, the faith’s FamilySearch program will join America250, Dunn said, “by highlighting the myriad family stories that go into the rich tapestry of our great nation, which have helped shape it into the great country which we have today.”

A sacred purpose

The Utah-based faith was founded in the United States in 1830, “thanks in great measure to the religious freedoms established by the Declaration of Independence and also the United States Constitution,” Dunn said. “So it’s really fitting that as we prepare to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of our church just four years from now, we join today with other faiths and other organizations this year to commemorate this very pivotal moment in our nation’s history.”

A pioneer spirit and a help-your-neighbor ethos have always been part of Mormonism, said Blaine R. Maxfield, managing director of the church’s global welfare and self-reliance services.

The 500,000-square-foot Bishops’ Central Storehouse serves as a central hub for 110 storehouses across the United States and Canada, Maxfield said. “It allows us to store goods at scale so we can quickly respond to disasters and immediate needs. Our trucks can be loaded and dispatched anywhere they’re needed.”

The church’s welfare system started during the Great Depression to help those facing insecurity and unemployment, he said. “Today, it has grown into a worldwide effort to care for all of God’s children, providing resources and programs that promote education, employment, and emotional and financial resilience, while also addressing urgent needs. This work reflects our commitment to help individuals through principles of self reliance and service.”

In recent weeks, with the loss of food-stamp assistance for millions of recipients during the just-ended government shutdown, Latter-day Saint leaders instructed the warehouses to “run our canneries and processing plants at capacity, which is more than we will use in our own system,” Gordon Carmen, director of the church’s production and distribution division, said during Thursday’s tour. “Any excess we have, we’ve been instructed to donate it.”

Last year, about 40% of the food the church produced went to food pantries across the country, he said, with the remaining 60% going to members in need, Carmen said. Two years ago, he noted, that ratio was reversed — 60% of the food that the church produced went to outsiders.

Many faiths provide for the hungry through food pantries and programs, of course, but are there any other programs like the Latter-day Saints have?

Not, he said, “on this scale.”