Youths from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pack a million meals for Utah Food Bank in Salt Lake City, Utah

Youths from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, in Salt Lake City to pack a million meals for the Utah Food Bank during a special evening for youth. Silicon Slopes, an organization representing the Utah business community, sponsored the service project.

Representatives of the Church’s Young Women and Young Men organizations attended the event. Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman described the joy she felt there.

“If we can look beyond ourselves and serve someone else, for some reason that brings a lot of joy, and that’s what it feels like to enter this room: the joy of participating in something so important to our own community,” said President Freeman.

Meals are distributed through the Utah Food Bank in each of Utah’s twenty-nine counties. Ginette Bott, executive director of the Utah Food Bank, said the fight against hunger is a continuous group effort. Approximately 415,000 Utah residents face food insecurity.

“Businesses, religious groups, families, we all have to unite. It’s about collaborating. That’s how we fight hunger in Utah,” Bott said.

Bott said this is the fifth year the Church, the Utah Food Bank and Silicon Slopes have organized the event. Organizers hoped that some 10,000 people would help pack meals over the course of a few days. President Freeman said the energy of the youth was inspiring. They sang along to music while they worked, rang a bell when their shift completed a certain amount of food, and made new friends. Packing the meals for people they may never meet is an example of sharing what one has (Hebrews 13:16).

President Freeman said the young people also understood the purpose of their work. “They’re here for something important, which is to help feed Utah’s families, our neighbors, our community, the kids they go to school with,” she said. “They’re part of a very big work: packing a million meals.”

Gracie Hampton, a young woman who took part in the service project, said she hoped those who receive the meals would feel loved. “I really hope that everything is okay and that this food will help them,” Hampton said.

Young Men General President Steven J. Lund said today’s youth are proactive in serving others. “They want to get their hands dirty, get out and, in fact, be part of the solution,” said President Lund. “They love to come out and help other people.”

Source: Read the original report (translated from Spanish)