LDS agency, Merit Medical feted

LDS Humanitarian Services and Merit Medical were each honored Tuesday with the 2006 "Common Good Awards," as a local minister lauded their efforts along with those of common Utahns who embraced hurricane evacuees last year.

The awards were presented during a luncheon in the Little America hotel ballroom by the Coalition for Utah's Future, whose Envision Utah project has mobilized community leaders and residents alike to shape the state's quality of life.

The group lauded the efforts of nonprofit LDS Humanitarian Services for its worldwide outreach to help those in need, "regardless of religious affiliation, race, ethnicity or political persuasion." Bishop H. David Burton of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accepted the award on behalf of the church's First Presidency, expressing gratitude to those locally and around the world who facilitate the faith's humanitarian outreach.

He said no organization "is more interested in the future of this state" than the church, and thanked the coalition for its work.

The group also gave its for-profit award to Merit Medical, a South Jordan-based medical products manufacturer headed by businessman and former political candidate Fred Lampropoulos, with congratulations for the support the company provides to a variety of community causes. With expected revenues of $185 million this year, the company "has been a very generous corporate neighbor for many years," said coalition chair Pamela Atkinson.

Lampropoulos said the company has committed to keeping much of its business in Utah and plans to continue supporting worthwhile community causes.

The Rev. France Davis of Calvary Baptist Church told the audience that Utahns put their best foot forward last year to feed, clothe and house some 600 evacuees from the Gulf Coast region after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Residents "put aside religious and political differences, personal agendas and profit motives" to help those in need, and as a result, some 300 of them have decided to stay in Utah, he said.

An eight-member staff, including Rev. Davis, continues to coordinate with local agencies more than a year after the evacuees arrived, he said, maintaining contact with them to resolve any remaining issues. "Our goal was to work ourselves out of a job and we're just about to do it," he said.

He outlined four principles for making a meaningful difference in the community:

• "Prepare as if everything depends on you."

• "Wait for the ground to swell and people to say, 'Here is the problem,'" then work on it.

• Help people to "become all they can be."

• "Someone has to communicate the vision clearly so there is no misstep along the way."

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