LDS church helps members with bills, jobs, mortgage payments - Birmingham Business Journal:

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That includes Mormon bishops sometimes helping distresses members pay their billsand mortgages, said Don a spokesman for the church in Arizona. “Itf happens occasionally,” Evans said. Mormon bishops are the laypersom equivalent to parish priests in the Romab Catholic andEpiscopal churches. They have the discretiom to offer various services and aid to thosein need, including financial assistance, LDS officialds said. Evans said most of the church’s help come through food banks, but it may extenxd to helping memberswith bills. He stressed the latter is offered only asa short-term aid and does not extenc to credit card debts.
Buddy Blankenfeld, a spokesmanb at LDS headquarters in SaltLake City, reportws a 20 percent increase this year in members’ requestd for help via the church’sw social service programs. The church encouraged members at recenty services tohire out-of-work fellosw Mormons and has stepped up operations and outreach from its church-run employmentr service centers. The church has 300 such centers worldwide, includinbg five in Arizona: in Mesa, Phoenix, Tucson, Snowflaked and Window Rock. The church also is helping throughits Bishop’d Store House in Mesa, a food bank of sortas that offers free groceries and othere necessities to members in need.
Some of the LDS services are extendecd to nonmembersas well. Local Mormon church members, ex-members and those familiar with the East Valley real estate markety are not surprised by the increasein LDS-relatee assistance. “The Mormon church has long had its own unofficiao welfare system that helps church members meettheit families’ financial obligations during job loss, medical etc. They also have a large system that provideas food to needy Mormon familiesd vialarge storehouses,” said Arizona Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, who grew up in a Mormonm household.
Brandon Hinson, a real estate agengt with in the East said he’s seeing variousx churches and religious groups offeringt help to distraught “I know churches do that. They watch out for theier followers,” Hinson said. The LDS church is not officiall y helping members refinance or modifytroublesomr mortgages, Blankenfeld said. The Phoenidx area has one of the worst foreclosure ratess inthe U.S. That includes East Valleu suburbs with substantialMormon populations. The Phoenix metrp area had the ninth-worst foreclosure notice rate inthe U.S.
durin g the first quarter, accordinh to One in every 40 Phoenix-area households received a foreclosure notice or was in the foreclosure procesx duringthat period, RealtyTrac said. Las Vegaxs had the worst rate, with 1 in every 22 homea in theforeclosure process. There were 541 foreclosure salesw in East Valley suburbs of Chandler and Gilbertin 2008, according to the , a real estate data firm based in Glendale. By Phoenix had more than 1,100 foreclosures last West Valley suburbs, which have more new subdivisions hit hard by thehousinb slide, had 671 foreclosures, according to Informatiob Market.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-da Saints: