April 16th, 2025, 4:19pm MDT
On the weekend of April 2025, friends from the General Assembly of the Church of Jesus Christ for Latter-day Saints, Brazilian non-governmental organization Amigos do Bem, or Good visited Salt Lake City along with Paulo de Araújojo, the church’s regional welfare and independence manager.
The organization’s leaders attended general conference at the Conference Center and visited the Bishop’s central warehouse in Salt Lake City, the humanitarian centre, Welfare Square. This allowed them to gain broader and better ideas about the welfare and humanitarian efforts of the Church.
Amigos Do Bem is one of the largest charities in Brazil. The efforts include supporting rural people through education, health, housing and income generation. Since 2021, the church has supported Amigos Do Bem with projects such as improving hygiene and providing food and drinking water to thousands of people.
Below are more recent efforts from churches in the Brazilian region, as reported at autossusoficiencia.org.
Cancer donation to children and teens
A report outlined how the church donated new equipment to the Tucca Institute of Molecular Pathology in Sao Paulo and the Santa Marcelina Hospital in February. In English, the Portuguese acronym Tucca refers to the Cancer Society of Children and Adolescents.
Sequencing instruments allow for more detailed analysis of biological samples, allowing for more accurate diagnosis, patient risk stratification, and personalized treatment.
Cancer has been reported to be the second cause of death among children and adolescents in Brazil, and many patients are unable to receive advanced genetic testing or personalized treatment due to lack of resources and proper infrastructure.
The church also donated trucks to Abrace, an organization that hosts children receiving cancer treatments in support of Brasilia.
A thank you letter from Abrace said, “This vehicle is extremely important in strengthening our mission to provide support and support to families of children and adolescents who are being treated for cancer and blood diseases.”
Fighting mosquito-borne diseases
Aedes aegypti is a type of mosquito that transmits diseases such as dengue, Zika virus, and chikungunya. The church recently donated 10 vehicles equipped with UBV nebulizers (commonly known as “fog”) to the Health Department in San Luis, Malanhao.
The expansion of the fleet will allow for full coverage of the region and more complete precautions that will help reduce mosquito-borne diseases in the population.
Improve your eye care
The church has donated three mobile eye health units to the Renovatio Support Association. This is an organization that provides access to eye health care for people in need.
With this donation, Renovatio will be able to expand its services for children and adults in the provinces of Sao Paulo, Parana and Bahia through eye care consultations and new glasses.
If children have vision problems, it can affect school performance and increase dropout rates. The donation is expected to lead to 150,000 eye examinations and benefit approximately 15,000 children who need vision correction.
New hospital equipment
In January, the ceremony marked handing over of equipment from the church to the Santo Andre Municipal Hospital Centre. The donations included dermatography to treat burns, pneumatic boots to prevent thrombosis, video laryngoscopes for complex intubation, cryostats for intraoperative cancer diagnosis, and surgical materials to improve the well-being of patients and professionals.
The donation is expected to benefit more than 7,000 people in its first year.
Hospital staff, city leaders and church representatives participated in the event.
