Pure religion: 'A chance to help'
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When Paul Hansen started work as a bookkeeper at the bishops' storehouse in Logan, Utah, in 1971, little did he know that he would serve there for the next 40 years.
Eventually becoming a coordinator and finally a field manager of one of the "Lord's storehouse[s]" (see Doctrine and Covenants 72:9-12), Brother Hansen retired from the Logan storehouse location, Jan. 20, bringing a total of 70 years of service to the warehouse between him and his father, who worked at the same location for 30 years.
"[My husband] never anticipated working for the storehouse," recalled Linda Hansen. "But he loves to be in service to Heavenly Father. That's part of who he is. Anything he can do to help others, he'll do it — if it's in his power."
Bishops' storehouses, which are Church-owned warehouses that contain food and other commodities to help members and others in financial need, were a commandment given by the Lord to Joseph Smith in 1831 (see Doctrine and Covenants 42:33-34, 55). Though Newel K. Whitney's store in Kirtland, Ohio, became the first such storehouse, the welfare operation has grown to include almost 130 storehouses across the world.
The storehouse in Logan where Brother Hansen worked is just one of those warehouses, and he was just one of those storehouse workers who, in Brother Hansen's own words, give them a chance "to practice, in a practical way, helping people."
After 40 years of doing just that, day after day, Brother Hansen has learned a thing or two about what it means to be "burdened with a load of care" (see Hymns, no. 241, "Count Your Many Blessings").
"One of the things we don't realize is burdens people are carrying in life," he explained, citing medical, familial and spiritual burdens people can carry in addition to the economic ones that usually bring individuals to a storehouse.
"Each one of us has a separate burden we are carrying in life. Being able to empathize with these individuals is something the storehouse teaches."
"I hope everyone who leaves the storehouse leaves with an uplifted spirit," he continued. "I don't get a chance to see what happens to these people," he explained candidly, "but the bishops and quorums do. The Relief Society does. The Lord does."
