Mormon Helping Hands (or, more recently, simply Helping Hands) is a name under which members of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church) perform volunteer

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...

. The name and its logo are worn on t-shirts and vests worn by LDS Church members while providing the service. The shirts and vests are bright yellow or white. The logos were used in 1992 in South Florida after

Hurricane Andrew Hurricane Andrew was a very powerful and destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that struck the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana in August 1992. It is the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures damaged ...

ravaged the city of

Homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (buildings), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Homestead (unit), a unit of measurement equal to 160 acres *Homestead principle, a legal concept t ...

and other parts of

Miami-Dade County, Florida Miami-Dade County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populous county in ...

. The Church officially established the program in 1998 in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile to identify service being done by members of the LDS Church. That same year it was implemented on a large scale in Brazil as part of a country-wide day of service organized by the church. It has since been used in many countries. Mormon Helping Hands operates under the direction of local stake and

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

presidents and

bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. The activities are meant to provide community service and are not proselytizing in nature. Mormon Helping Hands both responds to disasters such as hurricanes and gives aid aimed at improving conditions caused by long-standing problems such as deterioration of parks that lack proper upkeep. The Helping Hand Mormons, as of 2017, were asked to, as the name applies, help out with the cleanup of

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest t ...

and were featured on the news.

Notes

External links

* *{{Official website, 1=http://www.lds.org/service/humanitarian/helping-hands?lang=eng
Mormon Life stories on the Mormon Helping Hands
Christian organizations established in 1998 Organizational subdivisions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Service organizations based in the United States Religious service organizations

See also

Notes

External links