The Children's Place Child Advocacy Center Pays Public Tribute To The Women Of The Wasilla, Alaska LDS Stake For Their Generosity

Anti-Mormons like to point to the temples and commercial malls constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as so-called "proof" that the Church is more interested in profits rather than prophets. But what anti-Mormons scrupulously ignore is the manifold acts of individual and collective generosity perpetrated by local LDS communities worldwide.

One such act was recently highlighted in the Mat-Su Frontiersman, a newspaper serving the Matanuska-Susitna Valley in South Central Alaska. In a letter to the editor, Jen Burkmire, the executive director of The Children's Place Child Advocacy Center, paid tribute to the generosity of the women of the LDS Wasilla Alaska stake. The LTE is cross-posted below:

LDS women help children

Published on Monday, September 14, 2009 9:19 PM AKDT
To the editor:

The Children’s Place Child Advocacy Center would like to publicly thank the women from the Valley’s churches of Latter-day Saints for their overwhelming generosity. As part of their 2009 Wasilla Alaska Stake Women’s Conference, the women made 148 quilts and blankets, and this huge donation was delivered to The Children’s Place last week. We are humbled and impressed by the amount of time, talent, energy and caring that went into this project. Children are seen at The Children’s Place when there is a concern of sexual abuse or serious physical abuse. Every child leaves The Children’s Place with a blanket or quilt that has been donated by a caring community member. This amazing contribution from the LDS women of the Valley will reach far and wide to the vulnerable children of our community. On behalf of our child clients, thank you very much.

Jen Burkmire

Executive Director

The Children’s Place

Despite the effusive and effulgent nature of the praise offered in the letter, I don't believe that Burkmire herself is a Mormon who is using an LTE to "bump" the Church. If she was, she would have spelled out the full name of the Church in her letter. Not that it would matter; the important issues here are that a need was identified, the LDS community filled the need, and a charitable organization benefited. The Church doesn't need to run expensive charity promotion campaigns from its Salt Lake City headquarters because the members do it for them worldwide. They operate under the principle that good servants need not be commanded in all things. The Prophet Joseph Smith was once quoted as saying, "I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves". That standard continues to prevail even unto this day.

The Children's Place performs an important function in the Mat-Su Valley. As a non-profit, private agency in business since March 1999, they provide a child-friendly facility where personnel from many agencies (law enforcement, child protection, mental health, and medical providers) meet to coordinate investigations of possible child abuse. They are funded by federal, state, and local grants and private donations.