The LDS Church is donating 42,000 pounds of food to Community Food Basket of Idaho Falls

IDAHO FALLS — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a recent press release that it would donate 42,000 pounds of food to help cover the needs of the Idaho Falls Community Food Basket.

The donation is scheduled to arrive Thursday, Aug. 21, and is reported to be 24 pallets of food with items ranging from beef stew and green beans, to flour and chocolate pudding.

“We ran some numbers in July, and we had started noticing a decrease in donations and we’re down between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds of food for the same timeframe last year,” said Ariel Jackson, the executive director for the Idaho Falls Community Food Basket. “We can usually think our way out of a problem and this one I’m having a hard time finding a solution for. So the LDS Church heard that we’re down in donations and that we were struggling to feed families and so they are providing 24 pallets of food. That’s around 42,000 pounds of food.”

The Idaho Falls Community Food Basket has experienced a sharp decline in donations compared to previous years, Jackson said. While this donation won’t entirely make up for the decline in donations, it will certainly help alleviate the pressure.

Jackson said this wasn’t the first time they have worked with the LDS Church. The organization started working with the Church in 2020, and Jackson said the foodbank has received around four truckloads of food since.

“It seems every time we are kind of struggling or are falling a little behind, They (The LDS Church) hear about it and provide us with what they can,” Jackson said.

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“For 45 years this year, Community Food Basket has worked to provide struggling families and individuals with enough emergency food for seven days to assist folks through crisis,” said Jackson in the press release. “Currently, we have needed to decrease that number to five days in order to support the steady increase in need we have seen over the last few years,” Jackson said. “The Food Basket is very grateful for this extremely generous donation from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at a time when it is greatly needed. Without it, our limited resources would have been stretched to the breaking point by this steady increase in those facing hunger and food insecurity in our area.”

The Community Food Basket of Idaho Falls serves as a center for many of the other non-profits in the region. Not only does the Community Food Basket serve people across five counties, it also provides food and other support to 30 other nonprofits, schools, shelters and senior centers, according to the release.

The Community Food Basket statement expressed thanks for “the food delivery from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. As the need in our community grows and donations, including the food we rescue, are down, this food is a blessing.”

The food donated will be transported from the Bishops’ Storehouse in Salt Lake City. The press release states that the Bishops’ Storehouse is a “570,391-square-foot welfare facility built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to help the organization respond to disasters and take care of those in need regardless of their religion.”

Kevin Call, the Regional Interfaith director of the Church of Latter-day Saints and the vice chairman of the Regional Council for Christian Ministry said in the press release, “Being able to serve alongside many Churches in the community to provide help with food insecurity has been a wonderful blessing. As a member of RCCM, we appreciate the opportunity to help with food needs for Community Food Basket and be involved with a delivery of food from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.”