Sister Sharon Eubank, director of LDS Charities, mobilizes during global pandemic
Sister Sharon Eubank, director of Latter-day Saint Charities and first counselor in the general presidency of the Relief Society.
Masks being delivered to the Ministry of Health in Mongolia by LDS volunteers on April 15, 2020, to be distributed to doctors and other medical workers.
Latter-day Saint Charities partnered with MedGlobal in providing medical-grade face masks and personal protective equipment to medical personnel in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
Latter-day Saint Charities worked with international medical nonprofit MedGlobal to provide medical supplies to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Majdal Anjar, Lebanon, where there is a large refugee population
If you want to know what it’s like to bring a global pandemic into your living room, ask Sister Sharon Eubank, director of Latter-day Saint Charities.
For her health and those she lives with, Eubank must be extremely careful of getting or spreading COVID-19. That means she has worked with her teams nearly non-stop from her home computer.
LDS Charities, the humanitarian arm of the church, was created in 1985 in response to the Ethiopian famine. The church called for a special fast and monetary donation among its membership. Since then, the church has responded to many other needs around the world, according to church information.
To say Latter-day Saint Charities is a global force for good is understating its ability to mobilize and their humanitarian power.
That power has been propelled into high gear with COVID-19, according to Eubank.
Eubank also serves as first counselor in the general presidency of the Relief Society, the church’s organization for its 6 million female members ages 18 and over. Her day job is directing volunteers and working with hundreds of partners in helping with crises throughout the world, according to her church biography.
Working from home
In January, with a global pandemic at her doorstep, Eubank and her team started planning on how they could respond to basically everyone’s needs.
“This is the first time responding to a global event,” Eubank said. “Everybody in the whole world is being affected.”
Typically, Latter-day Saint Charities responds to individual disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, typhoons and volcanoes.
Never have those charities had to respond to the entire world at once, and Eubank said they had to look at the issue with a whole new set of eyes.
“We don’t have to motivate LDS volunteers during COVID-19,” Eubank said. “It is the biggest response and the largest (we’ve had) in 162 countries.”
Perhaps the biggest question for Eubank is: How do you respond to, organize and assign and direct a global event from your living room? Eubank said there are 20 members of her team at church headquarters in Salt Lake City and they meet daily.
“We are looking at technology to see what we can do,” Eubank said. “It’s forcing us to do things in different ways.”
Throughout the world, the church is divided into areas with General Authority Seventies over each area. They also have teams representing Latter-day Saint Charities that work with those leaders in each area of the world and report to Eubank.
“We’re giving 147% or more,” Eubank said. “There is nothing more pressing.”
Project Protect
One of the biggest needs through the pandemic has been face masks. In late spring, Latter-day Saint Charities along with other partners sponsored Project Protect.
The goal was to make 5 million face masks in five weeks, according to Eubank. With instructions and cloth cut, more than 10,000 volunteers reached their goal. Some volunteers have continued to make masks as service projects and have made nearly 1 million more.
At the same time, volunteers were sewing face masks in Utah, the church’s Beehive Clothing facilities in Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay, the Philippines and Utah shifted their operations from the manufacture of religious clothing to the sewing of masks (all locations) and gowns (Utah only) needed by those in the medical field.
Well over 100,000 face shields for caregivers and 100,000 reusable gowns were made, according to a church press release.
“We’re trying to work with governments [and] community leaders and find out what they need and then respond,” Eubank said at the press conference for Project Protect. “We have mobilized the Relief Society and their families to help with some of these projects.”
Purchased crops
Eubank said she has taken some time to read stories from the 1930s Great Depression. That is when the LDS Church began its Welfare Service programs.
“There was food, but it was unable to be harvested,” Eubank said. “It rotted in the fields.”
When stores started emptying at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she vowed that would not happen in 2020.
When media outlets started showing dairy farmers dumping milk, and potato farmers lamenting not being able to save their crop, the Latter-day Saint Charities and the church welfare system took action.
“To the church’s credit, they worked with the potato farmers and bought potatoes to dry for instant potatoes,” Eubank said. “They bought milk and turned it into cheese for the welfare shelves. All over the world the way has been made, it’s inspiring.”
Eubank said the perspective on the pandemic has shifted over the months.
“In the beginning, COVID-19 was about health,” Eubank said. “The longer it goes on it’s about a food crisis and employment.”
Eubank is sure the LDS Church and its charities will continue to step up with help from membership donations and service time.
“Sixteen million people (members) are under covenant to help people,” Eubank said.
Ongoing projects
In 2019, Latter-day Saint Charities helped in 142 countries with over 3,221 projects working with 2,000 different partners, with financial donations in the millions.
Humanitarian efforts are supported through nine signature programs of Latter-day Saint Charities that include:
• Benson Food project
• Clean Water and Sanitation
• Community Projects
• Emergency Response
• Immunization
• Maternal and Newborn Care
• Refugee Response
• Vision Care
• Wheelchairs
One hundred percent of donations are used for humanitarian efforts. The church absorbs its own overhead costs and utilizes a global network of volunteers, who generously contribute their time and expertise. Volunteers often live in the communities in which they serve, according to the church.
Latter-day Saint Charities also sponsors many other welfare and self-reliance programs, including vocational, rehabilitative, counseling and other services. This includes millions of hours donated by Latter-day Saint doctors, nurses and other church members each year, according to church information.
By April 17, Latter-day Saint Charities had approved over 110 COVID-19 relief projects in 57 countries. More were added throughout the summer. That is not all, the charities still responded with food and medical supplies to explosion victims in Lebanon, to Hurricane Laura devastation as well as the wildfires in California.
“Latter-day Saint Charities is very lucky because we have partnerships, whether it’s a pandemic or not,” Eubank added. “We’ve had trusted relationships over time. So when there is a pandemic, we don’t have to start from scratch. We know exactly how to help each other.”
COVID-19 projects
The church has partnered with Project HOPE in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. The first donation came at the beginning of the year, when masks and other protective equipment were shipped to China.
The church’s humanitarian arm also has provided medical equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE) throughout Europe. In addition, masks have been donated in Vietnam, in partnership with Fatherland Front in Hanoi City. Work is also underway in underdeveloped countries where there’s currently no available testing for COVID-19.
Latter-day Saint Charities is also responding to the pandemic by providing food and other supplies around the globe. In partnership with Save the Children, relief is being sent to Rwanda, Sudan and Tanzania. Another project to provide personal protective equipment is underway in Ukraine, in partnership with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).
In addition, the church is participating in another project with ADRA to provide urgent food in Serbia.
“We invite our members to participate in these and other relief projects in their areas and communities as opportunities arise and as local government directives and personal circumstances allow,” said a First Presidency letter.
The First Presidency consists of President Russell M. Nelson and his counselors, President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring.
From Asia to Zimbabwe, Latter-day Saint Charities is assisting in ongoing COVID-19 relief efforts throughout the world. With continued donation from members, careful planning with partners on best distribution, Latter-day Saint Charities will continue to provide humanitarian relief through the COVID-19 crisis and for years to come.
Daily Herald reporter Genelle Pugmire can be contacted at gpugmire@heraldextra.com, (801) 344-2910, Twitter @gpugmire
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