Degen Hill

Nov. 27th
e-Portfolio Paper
Tues. 5:20-8:20

Bishops Storehouse

When I first went to the Bishops Storehouse to complete part of my service learning I honestly
had no idea what I was in for. I was born in the LDS church and am still a member to this day yet I am
sad to say that I never knew exactly how the Bishops Storehouse was operated and ran within its actual
stores. I had a general knowledge and knew that it supplied members as well as non members with
sufficient supplies that catered to there specific needs and that through it, aid in the presence of
disasters was brought from this program. I took part in service at the Magna storehouse only because it
was the closest one to home but I remember driving there and thinking that I would probably be in
some big warehouse with a bunch of machines packaging wheat, flour and other products that fit the
description of the Mormon food storage plan. When I arrived I was shocked to see that this storehouse
was literally like a small grocery store. There were a few checkout stands and a couple of aisles all
fully stocked with a wide variety of products. There was also a little produce section in the back and a
freezer area on the side. Any essential items you could imagine were present there.
I went for three days over the course of three weeks because Saturday's were the only times I
was able to make it with my work schedule. I attended about 3.5 hours each time which was almost
perfect since they were only open for 4 hours on Saturdays. Saturday's were there busiest days so
while I was there they seemed to keep me busy although there were times they had to think of some
things I could do, but they were always able to. I was able to see that place work at full pace as well as
see all the different people that came in and the things that they would buy. It was packed! You could

barely get around the grocery store part of the storehouse without running into somebody or being in
somebody's way although it was quite small.
For the three days that I was there I took on a lot of similar duties each week so it got easier to
keep myself busy rather than having to ask what to do every time I completed a task. I was surprised at
how laid back it was though because I expected things to be a lot more strict and ran more like a
business but still the organization and work completed was amazing and outstanding. I spent most of
my time in the warehouse part of the storehouse where I swept the floors and the dust and other
particles of boxes and stocked items as well as mopped the upstairs where a lot of there shipments were
stored until brought down with there forklift (that no one was able to operate except for one of the lead
guys on duty who's calling it was) and did my fair share of vacuuming. I also spent a great deal of time
using there portable hand jack lifting pallets and re-arranging them and turning them around making it
easier on those who had the job to stock the shelves in the store. I also ran a machine they had there
that was quite convenient. You would stack the cardboard boxes in this machine as they were brought
to you and thrown into 2 large dumpsters. Once the machine was stacked full you would close the gate
and it would compress all the boxes down so that you could fit more in on top and continue to do it
over again until it was completely full. After all the air had been compressed it would then be bailed
and removed. It was a pretty efficient way of recycling the boxes. You were really able to get rid of a
lot of cardboard boxes in one bail which was surprising to me.
I never had the opportunity to work in the shelf stocking but I did watch how it was done. It
was actually quite simple. The shelf stockers would be over certain products and as the shelf''s got low
on that product they would go into the warehouse where a list of all the products and there locations
were hung in multiple area's around the warehouse so they could be easily found. Once found they
would grab the boxes with the amount needed and place them on there cart and take them back into the
grocery store part of the storehouse and cut open the boxes where they would again stock the shelves
and fill them full. That is where the boxes that I would place in the box compressing machine would

come from. There objective was to keep the shelves full by doing that all day long and trust me on
Saturday's it was a constant go. Although I never stocked shelves or the produce baskets I did stock the
freezers a couple of times. The main Freezer in the back of the warehouse was actually pretty big and
was kept at -5 to -10 degrees if I remember right. They were extremely cold therefore they provided
gloves and coats for anyone who was willing to work in there, but most would bring there own warm
clothes. The products in here would be taken to the freezers and stocked where those who were
shopping could access them from the side doors to the freezer part of the grocery store.
All in all it was a great experience but not only that, I was able to see how things truly worked
in the Bishops Storehouse. It wasn't until after I completed my service work that I came to an
understanding of how it all works and how the process for obtaining food went. Each individual or
family has to meet with the bishop presiding over there location before they are able to get anything.
They discuss there needs and fill out the necessary paperwork to get them no more or no less than what
these needs are. They then go into the storehouse with this signed paperwork where they are able to
shop for these necessities, check out and go. All sorts of people come and go from rich to poor from
young to old. The one thing that I truly respect is the attitudes of those who oversee the volunteers and
who run the storehouses on a daily basis excluding Sunday who are technically volunteers themselves.
They never judge a single person whether they were genuine or not and were always so grateful for any
kind of help. They were always willing to do whatever they could to help and would go far and beyond
to get the things done that needed to be done in order for everything to run smooth. I sure came out of
this experience with a lot more than I expected and I am grateful for it.