LDS balance attention on aid they give

PROVO — Leaders of the LDS Church face a delicate balancing act when deciding if and when to talk about the humanitarian aid the church provides to disaster victims and others in need worldwide.

Sharon Eubank told students at Brigham Young University's Kennedy Center recently that while The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is committed to helping those in need, leaders don't want to allow media coverage to "drive the effort" or to link the church with other organizations in the public mind.

Eubank manages the wheelchair program for the church's Humanitarian Services division. She said leaders look at potential news coverage of their efforts as a "byproduct" of their humanitarian work and not the reason for it.

"We will do it regardless ... but we do have to delicately manage the attention that comes. We want to make sure it's the right kind of attention," she said.

In her lecture, titled "Please Don't Tell This Story: LDS Humanitarian Aid and the Media," Eubank said there are some touching stories that can't be told because they can convey the wrong impression about the church and its mission.

An example is one about a local family whose soldier was killed in a roadside bombing while serving in Iraq. They wanted to do something positive in his memory, so they collected relief supplies that were distributed in the neighborhood where the bomb went off. One of the things they provided was a wheelchair.

Someone took a photo of a U.S. soldier smiling at a young Iraqi boy who lost his leg to a bomb and received the wheelchair that had been donated by the family. "There are so many good things that happened in those two communities, and it's a great story. But I can't use this photo anywhere because visually, it could tie humanitarian aid (provided through the church) to the U.S. military" members who were distributing it.

"The church has to remain neutral politically," she said, referencing its efforts in many nations where opposing political factions operate.

Leaders also have to be careful to keep missionary work separate from humanitarian efforts, she said. Tying them together results not only in a loss of credibility with those being served, but it misconstrues the reason for the aid in the first place.

The church provides humanitarian aid because that is what Jesus Christ would do, she said. "We believe our salvation is inextricably tied to (our care of) the poor and the needy. ... We hope we do it in a way that shows our belief in Christian principles."