The Church is able to follow the welfare plan it implemented 55 years ago because its basic principles came from the Lord, President Thomas S. Monson affirmed Nov. 21 in an address at the dedication of a new Church welfare center in Ogden. (Please see related article on this page.)

Before offering the dedicatory prayer, the second counselor in the First Presidency addressed some 150 stake priesthood and Relief Society leaders and welfare representatives assembled in the bishops' storehouse of the new center.He said the Lord outlined the general principles that became the firm foundation of the Church Welfare Plan. "The Lord provided the way when He declared, `And the storehouse shall be kept by the consecrations of the church; and the widows and orphans shall be provided for, as also the poor.' (D&C 83:6.) Then the reminder, `But it must needs be done in mine own way.' " (D&C 104:16.)

Looking around the new bishops' storehouse in which the dedicatory ceremony was held, President Monson recalled some of his earlier experiences with such a facility. He said when he was a bishop, his ward had many families receiving Church welfare assistance; many recipients were widows. Each month, deacons in the Aaronic Priesthood collected from members' homes fast offerings that were used to help support the Church welfare program.

President Monson recalled that one morning the boys complained about having to get up so early to fulfill their assignment. Instead of reproving the young men, he escorted them the next week on a tour of Welfare Square in Salt Lake City.

The boys met the woman with a physical handicap who operated the switchboard. They saw a man who was blind placing labels on cans, and an older man stocking shelves. "Here were individuals earning their sustenances through their contributed labors," President Monson said. "A penetrating silence came over the boys as they witnessed how their efforts each month helped to collect the sacred fast offering funds that aided the needy and provided employment for those who otherwise would be idle."

He further said that during a year of drought the storehouse became critically low on its stock of fresh fruits and vegetables. He said he prayed that adequate produce could be found for the needy families. "The next week, I received a call from a ward member, a proprietor of a produce business.

`Bishop,' he said, `I would like to send a semi-trailer filled with oranges, grapefruit and bananas to the bishops' storehouse to be given to those in need. Could you make arrangements?'

"The storehouse was alerted. Then each bishop was telephoned and the entire shipment distributed. Bishop Jesse M. Drury, that beloved welfare pioneer and storekeeper, said he had never witnessed a day like it before."

Miracles, declared President Monson, occur in storehouse facilities.

The Church Welfare Plan, he said, has received national and international attention. He mentioned President Ronald Reagan's 1982 visit to the Ogden cannery, located across a parking lot from the new facility. Further attention to Church welfare services came when President Monson was asked to serve on the President's private sector initiatives task force. He said President Reagan once remarked that if every church in the nation had had as much foresight and vision in caring for their poor in the Depression and the years that followed, the government would not have as many welfare problems as it does today.

Illustrating how the Lord inspires His servants in caring for the temporal as well as spiritual needs of people, President Monson related the story of a family in Wyoming that was nearly destitute one Christmas. The father, whose ranch failed to produce an income that year, was away working for meager wages on another ranch. The family had no food left. When an older son expressed concern about what they would eat Christmas day, the mother said, "Don't worry. The Lord will provide."

Still, the boy worried. "He came down the stairs . . . and heard a voice," President Monson related. "He looked and there was his mother, kneeling and saying to her Heavenly Father, `There is no food in this house, my children are hungry and tomorrow is Christmas. Wilt thou provide.' The boy (who related the account after he became a stake president) said he felt he was standing on holy ground."

President Monson said the family's bishop was at home that night sitting by a cozy fireplace when his wife was prompted to tell him that this particular ranch family had no food in their home. "We'd better do something about that," the bishop said. He and a son loaded a wagon of food and delivered it that night. On Christmas morning, the children awoke to the aroma of breakfast cooking. After they had eaten, the son who had worried the night before asked, "Where did the food come from?" The mother replied, "I told you, the Lord would provide."

President Monson said, "When there's need and when there's faith, God still speaks, and when men listen, blessings will be provided."

He further said, "You know the scripture: `The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.' (Matt. 8:20.) I would hope that everyone of us would make sure that there is time in his or her life for the Savior of the world, and will make place in his or her home and heart for Jesus of Nazareth. Then we shall have the spirit of the welfare effort.

"Appearing as a golden thread woven through the tapestry of the welfare program is the truth taught by the Apostle Paul: `The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.' " (2 Cor. 3:6.)

In the dedicatory prayer, President Monson acknowledged, "When we assist the poor, we also bless ourselves, we lift them up closer to thee, spiritually as well as temporally. . . . Let us follow the example of thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior, in lifting up hands that hang down, in strengthening feeble knees and in watching over those who are widows and those who are parentless, and those who require our help."