TikTok trends are becoming quite the thing recently, and this weekend is no different. There is a woman, hiding under the cloak of anonymity, who made a TikTok video discussing the fact that she called numerous churches, pretending to be a mother whose baby is in need of baby formula. First, according to several sources, she is a mother, but from all appearances, her baby is not in need of anything.
This woman decided to expose the churches who, in her mind, refused to help a starving infant. That alone makes her a horrible human being, in my opinion. I decided to chime in on TikTok. She actually went so far as to expose specific churches and that’s appalling. I do, however, want to clarify something in the article.
One of the churches, according to the article, that she called was The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the “Mormon” or “LDS” church. She apparently called the actual headquarters of the church in Salt Lake City. She was told that they don’t have local offices like most churches do. As a former member of the faith, I can tell you that that is true.
The LDS church does not have local offices, because the local ministry is not paid and there is no rectory. I suspect that she knew this because if she called Utah rather than a local congregation, then she knew what she was doing. I can tell you that there are no leaders available in the building during the day, so even if someone in need showed up, there would be no one to help them. That’s how the church works.
The LDS church has a very specific way of helping people in need, and they are not equipped to just hand out baby formula. The church will never just hand out money. Any assistance they give is in the form of food, grocery gift cards and the like. I happen to agree with the church’s stance. The church is not set up to just handle walk-ins. That’s not how it works and that’s not how it should work.
Leadership doesn’t even have a mechanism to hand things out to the general public. So the fact that she was told no by the church should not be a bad reflection them.
If I were in a position of local leadership in the LDS church, I would decline to assist some random person off the streets. That’s because there is a high probability that the person “in need” is not really needy and they would likely use that money for drugs. I would assist my congregation, but not some unknown person.
After reading the article and watching the numerous TikTok videos, I do not fault the churches that turned her away. Maybe they suspected it was a scam. Maybe they hear sob stories like this all the time and will not just hand out cash or baby formula like it’s candy. Look, every church has its policies.
If churches helped every whiny person who called their office, that church would go out of business. I suspect that she knows this, but she just doesn’t care.
I know that my parish is not set up to just hand things out to random people who make whiny phone calls or who show up in person, hat in hand. My parish does help those in need, they just don’t play the games that this woman played. The parish does host a food pantry twice a week, and even that is going too far in my opinion.
When it comes to me, I never help people. I’ve had random people on the street come up to me and beg for money. This one needs bus money. That one hasn’t eaten for two days. I’ve heard every story and they were all frauds. Even if those stories did ring true, I still wouldn’t help them because it’s not my job to do so.
I have no sympathy for needy people, and that’s because they put themselves in that position, either by action or inaction. Even with this SNAP drama going on, I had a neighbor who really is a single mother with an infant knock on my door to beg for food for her baby. Not for her, but her baby. I of course told her to get a job and I shut the door in her face.
That’s how I operate. That’s how churches should, in my opinion, operate in a society where people will pretend to be needy in order to score drugs.
As for my TikTok, views started blowing up almost immediately, as did my comments section. Fortunately, TikTok gives creators valuable tools, and I am basically able to moderate 99% of the comments before they ever make it onto the video. I have gotten a lot of comments so far, and I have smacked down numerous comments for various reasons. That’s also why I don’t allow comments here. I don’t have time to sit there moderating every single comment.
As for this woman, I think that she acted in bad faith. She wasn’t trying to call attention to a baby’s supposed plight. She was trying to expose, manipulate and embarrass church employees who are likely not authorized to just hand things out. And they shouldn’t be expected to go into their own pockets for every sob story that comes along.
I think this woman knew what she was doing and she knew that she was being cruel and, quite frankly, she acted maliciously. She clearly acted in bad faith and she should be ashamed of herself. All she proved is that she is an arrogant bitch.
She also could be putting churches at risk of retaliation because of her words. But she doesn’t care!
What’s really sad to see is the number of copycats who are now harassing manipulating other churches. These churches do not deserve this kind of treatment. I am certain that every church helps the needy in one form or another, it’s just that the procedures for doing that differ from church to church. Just because a church doesn’t behave the way a person wants them to, that doesn’t mean that the church doesn’t help at all.