Missionaries pimped out for sandbag PR stunt for LDS Inc

[_Gadianton]

Sethbag,

Shoot. Next time I go to the store to buy beer, I need to get a shirt going that says, "Anti-Mormons helping single mothers".

Moniker and Harmony,

Yes. It Is true, Trevor is right, it says something about not giving to "panhandlers". That there are other means by which to help the poor. It's a very large, imposing brass plaque. A big "inside joke" since the "panhandlers" on the outside of the wall aren't on an even playing field. The truth remains, if the young woman I helped last night (and this story is 100% true) were to have been outside of temple square, she'd not have known about the sign (I didn't know about it until I saw it myself) and have spent all night wondering why no one would help her. She didn't know a GA had written on a sticky note, "don't help me, hahaha" and stuck it on her back. All the sandbags, soup kitchens, and supplies rotting in Qualcom stadium wouldn't have kept this young woman from going to the streets with her children last night. Fortunately she was at a grocery store in California and an Anti-Mormon was buying beer.

Did I mention, she was smoking? Even more reason for Mormons not to help her. "She'll just go buy ciggerettes! And if you add up all the money she spent on those all the years..." Yes, it might be true. But she still needed that fifty for her rent. So maybe she needed 70$ for the whole package, so what? Most people in that situation have probably made one or more choices that got them where they are.

[_harmony]

I wonder if the plaque is doctrinal.

It certainly does not pass the Book of Mormon standard.

Mosiah 4: 16: "...and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain...."

Another example of the church publically proclaiming that they don't follow their own scriptures. That's what happens when only men are in charge.

[_Moniker]

I'm glad you gave her what you had, gad. That was very kind. :)

[_harmony]

Sethbag,

Shoot. Next time I go to the store to buy beer, I need to get a shirt going that says, "Anti-Mormons helping single mothers".

Is begging a better return on one's time than prostitution? I fear that in a market economy, selling is more profitable than begging.

Anyway, there are altogether too many single mothers in similiar situations. Your act of kindness was kinda like the kid who threw the starfish back into the sea. It didn't make a dent in the vast numbers of similiarly situated single mothers, but it made a difference to that one (assuming of course that someone else gave her $41 to make her rent). Now if we could just do something to stop the slide that gets them into those circumstances in the first place.

[_Sethbag]

Sethbag,

Shoot. Next time I go to the store to buy beer, I need to get a shirt going that says, "Anti-Mormons helping single mothers".

Actually, Gadianton, it was blatantly against the scriptures, prideful, and bordering on the irreverent or even obscene for you to boast of your charity the way you have.

Of course, if you had started up the Gadianton Foundation for Charity, and written this woman a check for $9 paid out of the account of this Foundation, the scriptural strictures against boasting of your charity would not apply. You could then have had one of your friends come and photograph you handing over the check to this woman, and put up a news release about it on the Foundation's website. It could even be one of those decorative 4 foot wide megachecks just for publicity purposes - you could just tape $9 in cash on the back of it to be more readily usable by the poor woman after the photo op was over.

/smirk

[_Sethbag]

by the way, check out this link. It's another news release by the church, this time touting the efforts of some LDS youth over in Asia in responding to flood victims. Check out the yellow "Mormon Helping Hands" vests worn by every member of the group.

Wow, someone at Mormon Central had tons of "Mormon Helping Hands" t-shirts and vests made up and shipped around the world, just to be available in case of some natural disaster, so the local Mormons could be issued them for the photo op? That would be bad enough, but the alternative would be even worse - what if they actually keep all the "Mormon Helping Hands" uniforms in Salt Lake and actually fly them in overnight to whatever natural disaster hotspot shows up, as part of the first shipment of "aid"?

[_Boaz & Lidia]

by the way, check out this link. It's another news release by the church, this time touting the efforts of some LDS youth over in Asia in responding to flood victims. Check out the yellow "Mormon Helping Hands" vests worn by every member of the group.

Wow, someone at Mormon Central had tons of "Mormon Helping Hands" t-shirts and vests made up and shipped around the world, just to be available in case of some natural disaster, so the local Mormons could be issued them for the photo op? That would be bad enough, but the alternative would be even worse - what if they actually keep all the "Mormon Helping Hands" uniforms in Salt Lake and actually fly them in overnight to whatever natural disaster hotspot shows up, as part of the first shipment of "aid"?

I wonder if they would still follow through with the "help" if the shipment of vest did not arrive on time..

One 85-year-old woman, whose mobility is limited by five operations, said she had not eaten bread for days.

Perhaps because the Mormons were waiting for the yellow vests for days?

[_Mercury]

I wonder if the plaque is doctrinal.

It certainly does not pass the Book of Mormon standard.

Mosiah 4: 16: "...and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain...."

If I lived in SLC I'd get a brass plaque and print that verse on it. Then, disguised as a Mormon tourist, i'd surreptitiously apply it over the original "panhandler" sign.