The following is excerpted from the Church Newsroom. To read the full article, CLICK HERE

The first of the 2022 Christmas season’s Light the World Giving Machines are now operating in Kansas City, Missouri. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has used these giving-focused vending machines since 2017 to help the poor and needy around the world.

Camille N. Johnson, the Church’s Relief Society General President, participated in Wednesday’s unveiling at Crown Center in downtown Kansas City.

“[God] is asking us to care for those in need — and that is the core of Relief Society,” President Johnson said. “Sometimes those that are in need are right next door, and other times we have opportunities to care for those that are in need on a global basis. This offers us that opportunity. Local charities will be benefited. Global charities will be benefited. And in doing that, the light of the Savior is carried around the world.”

Giving Machines include items such as groceries, fresh water, child vaccines, beds, hygiene kits, farming equipment, medical care, job training, educational supplies, beehives and livestock.

“I just think [these machines are] so special because it’s not just [helping] locally, although that’s important,” said Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company, who made a special quilt to raise money for Wednesday’s kickoff event. “If you can give a goat to a family who needs a goat — it’s not something you could wrap up normally and put in a box. But here you have the opportunity to do that. And those kind of things change people’s lives.”

To read the full article, CLICK HERE