Mormon official visits region to help organize food, hygiene donations

The first Mormon temple in Virginia will begin taking shape in Henrico County next month, and yesterday one of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ Elders visited the region to help the organization prepare 40,000 pounds of food and hygiene supplies for donation to other local churches.

Elder Todd D. Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was in town to help organize the donations, which will be delivered and stored at the Bishop Storehouse in Chesterfield and then ultimately delivered to local houses of worship.

“We’re not giving them all of the food at once because. . . they don’t have space for it,” added Elder Haynie. “But over the course of this next year, we’re going to be donating a lot of food to … a total of 10 different food banks that are associated with churches in the inner city in an effort to meet some of the needs of some of those who are less fortunate.”

Those attending the event included Robert Barnette, Virginia NAACP president, and representatives of area churches receiving the donations.

“These donations mean that people will get the nutrition and food they need to sustain them in their lives,” said Barnette.

“[The donation] means a lot,” said Deacon Roger Pegram of the Faith and Hope Temple. “We feed a lot of people during the week.”

“We just appreciate and feel blessed that we are included in this,” said Vicki Martin, director of Eastern Henrico FISH. Martin explained that her organization works to keep families in need together in their homes.

Later yesterday, Christofferson met with Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas and Brookland District Supervisor Dan Schmitt, among other officials.

Mormon officials will break ground on the Henrico site, to be located on Staples Mill Road not far from I-295, April 11. The facility will include the 2-story, 36,000-square-foot temple and an adjacent 16,000 square-foot meeting house on the 11 acre site. Work is expected to be completed in 2022.