OAKLAND, Calif. — "Yes, we are our brothers' keepers," President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, declared after receiving the 1999 Distinguished Public Service Award from the Bay Area BYU Management Society and the BYU Alumni Association.

Some 350 people attended the event, held in the Oakland Interstake Center on Temple Hill here. Presenting the award was Cory E. Higbee, president of the San Francisco Chapter of the BYU Management Society. In introducing the guest of honor, Brother Higbee cited President Monson's significant contributions to mankind, society and worthy public causes.

In his remarks, President Monson said there are countless examples of Latter-day Saints who take seriously the admonition to be their brothers' keeper and do so much to assist their fellow man.

He then related a touching and inspirational experience as related by Junius Burt, "who many years ago worked in the Streets Department in Salt Lake City. . . . The regular crew was assisted by temporary laborers who desperately needed the work. One such wore only a lightweight sweater and was suffering from the cold.

"A slender man with a well-groomed beard stopped by the crew and addressed this particular worker: 'You need more than a sweater on a morning like this. Where is your coat?'

"The man replied that he had no coat to wear. The visitor then removed his own overcoat, handed it to the man, and said, 'This coat is yours. It is heavy wool and will keep you warm. I just work across the street.'

"The street was South Temple," President Monson continued. "The Good Samaritan who walked into the Church Administration Building to his daily work and without his coat was President George Albert Smith. His selfless act of generosity revealed his tender heart. Surely he was his brother's keeper."

President Monson then related a poignant experience when he was bishop of the Sixth-Seventh Ward in Salt Lake City. He had been notified of the passing of Kathleen McKee, a 73-year-old childless widow in his ward. Upon arriving at the hospital, he was presented with an envelope containing her apartment key.

"That same night I entered her tidy basement apartment, turned the light switch, and in a moment discovered on her kitchen table a handwritten note on which rested two Alka Seltzer bottles filled with quarters. The note contained this message: 'Bishop, here is my fast offering. I am square with the Lord.'

"A spirit of peace filled that room. A silent sermon had been delivered," President Monson recalled.

Continuing, he spoke of Church humanitarian aid, "a relatively new designation for help extended beyond the basic welfare program."

President Monson then told of recent disasters after which the Church provided humanitarian aid. "We have collaborated in these projects with the Red Cross (American and International), the Red Crescent, Catholic Charities, and so on. Hunger knows no ecclesiastical boundary. We can provide hope, we can preserve life."

He recounted the devastation of Hurricane Andrew on the Florida coast in 1992. "A spearhead unit was deployed from the Church welfare facility in Atlanta before the storm hit, and it arrived at its appointed location just as the winds abated. The truck carried food, water, bedding, tools and medical supplies — the first relief shipment to arrive in the disaster area.

"Three large waves of member volunteers, numbering over 5,000, labored shoulder-to-shoulder with disaster-stricken residents, helping to repair 3,000 homes, a Jewish synagogue, a Pentecostal church and two schools. It mattered not the faith or race of the person who occupied the damaged homes."

President Monson then spoke of Hurricane Mitch, which recently devastated Honduras and other areas of Central America. The Church provided similar relief efforts as it did after Hurricane Andrew, he said, but there were "examples of personal effort."

He told of Dr. Randall Ellsworth, a former missionary in Guatemala and now a prominent ophthalmologist in Utah County. This past December, Dr. Ellsworth took his wife and children to the affected areas where he provided his medical skills and the family personally furnished medical supplies.

"In addition, they transported additional medicines provided him by the Church Welfare Department."

President Monson also related the experience of Alan and Leslie Layton of Salt Lake City, who took their family to Honduras in December. "They took with them more than a thousand dollars worth of desperately needed tools, which they used and then left with the people there. The entire family experienced the deep joy and satisfaction which come when Christlike service is given to those in need."

Continuing, President Monson told of a potable water project that "changed the lives of more than 1,100 families" in the foothills on the western slopes of Mt. Kenya in Africa. Latter-day Saint engineers responded to a call from the Church to go to Africa and stay as long as necessary to complete the project. "Drinkable water now flows through 25 miles of pipes to waiting homes in a 15-village area. The simple blessing of safe drinking water recalls to mind the words of the Lord, 'I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink.' (Matt. 25:35.)

"When we work together cooperatively to lift the level of life for so many people, we can accomplish anything," President Monson explained. "When we do so, we eliminate the weakness of one person standing alone and substitute the strength of many serving together. While we may not be able to do everything, we can and must do something."

President Monson related that when he was bishop in 1951, his ward undertook a three-week project just before Christmas to renovate an apartment for an LDS family emigrating from Germany. Ward members supplied time, materials, appliances and even stocked the cupboards with food.

"The days passed, and at the appointed time Hans and Karla Guertler and their family arrived from Germany," President Monson said. Hans' brother, Carl, brought the family to their new bishop, who escorted them to their new apartment, not knowing "what a transformation had taken place and that many who participated were inside waiting for their arrival."

"The door opened to reveal a literal newness of life. We were greeted by the aroma of freshly painted woodwork and newly papered walls. In the living room we began to sing Christmas hymns. We sang in English; they sang in German. At the conclusion, Hans Guertler, realizing that all of this was his, took me by the hand to express his thanks. His emotion was too great. He buried his head in my shoulder and repeated the words, 'Mein Bruder, mein Bruder, mein Bruder.'

"May our Heavenly Father ever bless us to remember that we are our brother's keepers."