Accordingly, the decision of the Department of Revenue is reversed. In 1876, Brigham Young asked Sister Emmeline Wells to organize Mormon women to save grain against a day of need. Thereafter, Mormon women gleaned wheat fields to prepare a store of wheat for use in emergencies. Thus began Plaintiff's grain storage program. A central tenet of Mormon religious belief is that, as disciples of Christ, church members consecrate themselves to care for others in time of need.
Pure religion is to visit the fatherless and needy in their affliction.
The wheat storage program was created to meet both a charitable and religious purpose. Consistent with this tenet, the church created what is today known as the Welfare Service Department. The storehouse system utilizes church-owned facilities mainly located in the United States and Canada that are used to store and distribute, without charge, food and other commodities to the poor and needy. Plaintiff's regional storehouses are called Bishops' Central Storehouses. Approximately 140 basic food and commodity items are stored and available to those in need.