June 9, 2025, 12:05pm MDT
A Latter-day Saint woman sat alone at a sewing center in Detroit, Michigan, in Detroit, Michigan, cutting out a cloth and scrolling her phone while she was resting. She was coming to volunteer – expecting to receive it. However, the refugee woman noticed that she was sitting alone, walked over, offered to a banana and invited her to sit.
It was a small act of kindness. But Rachel Cannon, a leader in stake communications, explains that it was far more.
“She thought, ‘I’m going to go there,'” Cannon said, “But it turned her relationship into a community, those individuals, and services.”
That gesture reflects a bigger development in Detroit. It is an increasing cooperation between Latter-day Saints and the Church of Jesus Christ at Zaman International.
Independence sharing mission
Founded in 1996 and rooted in the Arab and Muslim community of Dearborn, Michigan, Zaman International exists to “break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.” The work focuses on others navigating the crisis, including single mothers, refugee families.
“We have education and workforce development and nowadays we have health services,” said Monica Boomer, Zaman’s chief executive. “We’re trying to become that one-stop shop for our clients, so when they’re at the door, they can see a future of independence, a future of true sustainability in our families, then work those different programs at their own speed and following their own path.”
Their focus is in line with the Church’s global efforts to improve the health and well-being of women and children. Boomer said, “If a family mother falls due to poverty or illness, for some reason, the entire family’s generation will fall with her. At the same time, you will be able to reach independence and sustainability, and the impact on that family will be multi-talented.”
President Kamille N. Johnson, Relief Society general president, said something similar in 2024. “When you bless women, you bless your family, your community, your country. When you bless your children, you invest in the future.”
“Their mission to help women and children and break the cycle of poverty clearly appeals to us,” Cannon said.
“What they’re doing is to be very client-centric and remind us of building people in the way we try to do that in our church,” Cannon added. “It not only provides instant relief, it also seeks to build people and their capabilities.”
The collaboration began in 2016 and began to include food provisions from the Bishop’s warehouse, truck supplies from Salt Lake City, regular services from local missionaries and members, and 2024 gift agency contributions.
Since 2010, Zaman has served over 5 million internationally.
“We are truly considered partners.”
Zaman averages around 500 collaborations each year, but few people are as permanent as their church affiliated with them.
“We are truly considered partners,” Boomer said. “There is a mutual desire to help us improve our ability to serve, and that makes for a very beautiful partnership.”
Cannon said: “We are a congregation of people who are trying to do good, half the time they don’t know how to do it. …We need to support those who are doing good, those who are driven by the light of Christ, what they are doing, whether it refers to it or not.”
That mutual learning is evident in moments of big and small: refugee resettlement delivery, medical clinic funding, JustServe project. “We’re not perfect,” Cannon added. “But we’ve always discovered that we’re always trying to meet our needs together.”
Prophetic priorities
Greg Geiger, communications director for the church’s Michigan-Detroit Coordination Council, explained that Detroit is one of the most racially and religiously diverse cities in the United States. In that context, collaboration itself becomes a powerful message.
Zaman was one of the local nonprofits supported by the church’s gift agency in Detroit last year. Geiger recalls the moment Zaman CEO Naja Bhaji addressed the media at a launch event. “She never spoke about Zaman. She spoke about how important this relationship is with the Church of Jesus Christ, and she even said our correct name.”
Speaking of collaborations with Zaman, Geiger believes it coincides with what church leaders teach. “One of our prophetic priorities, care for the poor, can only be with you.”
It looks like Christ is watching
This collaboration also helped church members look differently.
“One of my favorite things about the Bible is how Christ sees people and sees people,” Cannon said. “These relationships help us see people and really understand them.”
She said that Christ-like lenses change how service is approached. “It’s about connecting, right? It’s not just that I’m there to save someone or fix something. It’s about us as God’s humans and children.”
Boomer has seen it behaviour in one family. “She was receiving food delivery and client services case management from us. Now, we’ve probably 12 years later, our son has completely changed his graduate school trajectory.
Vision for the future
Cannon grew up in Detroit as the only Latter-day Saint in most circles. Later, at BYU, she finds herself surrounded by people who don’t understand her home. “I want you to know and love the people of Detroit.”
Now she sees these two groups coming together – as a shared meal, a joint project, as a quiet apprentice.
That vision was strengthened in February 2020 when Zaman leaders visited Salt Lake City’s Welfare Square. They stood near the pillars of a huge warehouse, so they asked why it was so big. The answer stayed with them: “When nothing else stands, we are here.”
Boomer said, “We set out to the plane home and were buzzing with ideas about how the church is already doing well and how we can expand what we can do here.”
