Nonmembers taking advantage of the church cannery

Just wondered if you have noticed that nonmembers are now beginning to buy and can food at the bishop's storehouse.

I went up to Jacksonville last Saturday with our regular (small) ward group. It included a nice young nonmember family man who goes often with us, and is practicing provident living. We soon had a very efficient canning operation going, and finished a couple of big loads in less than two hours. Only item not in stock was dry milk.

There was a group from another ward (I thought) whom I hadn't met before. They were not too outgoing toward the rest of us, but took the supervisor's directions, and worked admirably. It was only later that I learned that they were a Baptist group from Yulee. No wonder they were a bit uneasy around us. After all, don't we all know that Mormons eat their babies?! :tongue_smilie:

I'm so pleased that nonmembers are preparing with our church's help. The preparedness program is such a wonderful missionary tool, and a great bridge to others not of our faith. As I've mentioned before, my cousin-in-law takes orders from other nonmember friends to get for them when we go up for a load of bulk foods. And, he and his survivor friend are using church books and materials to guide them in preparing. His friend gave out a copy of Wendy DeWitt's prep DVDs to every member in his volunteer fire department, and they are spreading throughout So. Baptist country in the counties north of us. AND, the cousin-in-law wants to go next month on our ward's bishop's storehouse assignment to put up welfare orders. "I like them people," he says about the cannery missionaries.

I've heard from many, many non-LDS groups interested in such things, about how they admire us mormons for our preparadness mindset and resources.

I believe we will increasingly see all good people gravitate towards the Church, with the growing evil in the world it will only become clearer and clearer where the truth resides to everyone IMHO. You stand for it or you don't, and we'll find each other very quickly as this unwinds. We could certainly use their strengths, we need all good people together - even if they don't want to accept our baptism.

Our FSC is 340 mi away, so I don't know if non-members in the Twin Cities are using it more. But fully 2/3 of the people who attended our last Preparedness Fair were non-lds AND it made the 5:00 news. So yes, there is definitely interest in what we teach about preparedness.

I talked to an employee at the Welfare Square Cannery and they said that you can take people with you who are non-members, but that they can't just go to a cannery without a member. I imagine this all depends on who is running each cannery if that is possible or not.

I am a non LDS member and thought you might want to hear my experience. Although i still have not been there (its almost a 2hr drive) I called the center...i think it was in Carrolton, Tx.....I was upfront about being non-LDS and that i was looking for bulk grains and other preparedness items. The lady on the phone was very nice and welcoming.
I didnt get any hint of "Oh noes! a stockpiling gentile!" :smile (2):
Now i am wondering if the Storehouse that was to be just north of Austin opened. (much nearer to me)

There is a difference between a "Cannery" and a "Storehouse." The Bishop's Storehouse is used by the Bishops for the relief of the needy. It is not open to the public.

The Cannery is a place designated by the Church where members and non-members can come and can food for storage. It can be a "Wet" cannery, or a "Dry" cannery. Each site usually specializes in specific storage items. In my area it's a dry cannery and we'd have to go 300 miles to a can in a wet cannery.

Because it makes good sense, these two facilities frequently share buildings and rooms. The Storehouse in Austin is open.

Give 'em a call and if there is a cannery joining the storehouse, buy a few tons of wheat like the rest of us! You'll fit right in....

Thanks for the clarification. I know why folks drive so far to a cannery.....i priced the equipment awhile back.