President Johnson Tours Humanitarian Sites in Southeast Idaho

Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has concluded a three-day ministry to Southeastern Idaho, where she was born and raised. During her visit, she toured a volunteer-run foster care resource center and food pantry in Blackfoot, as well as a humanitarian center in Idaho Falls. She also addressed more than 1,800 women who gathered to hear her speak.

Community Outreach

When a child enters foster care, the move often comes suddenly. Many arrive carrying everything they own in a garbage bag. At The Village in Blackfoot, Idaho, volunteers want that moment to feel different. Each child receives a suitcase of their own and everything they need, all donated, so they know from the start that someone loves them and that they are not alone.

Jacque Burt, director of The Village, shared that story with President Johnson when she visited on Friday, September 25, 2026, with her husband, Doug. Burt explained that the community gives everything at The Village freely, and every piece is chosen to restore dignity.

“These kids come to us with a garbage bag, and sometimes that’s all they have left,” Burt said. “We want them to walk out with a suitcase.”

Burt walked President Johnson through a center that now has what it needs to serve foster children and the families who care for them. The Village was part of the Church’s Light the World Giving Machine initiative last year.

Neighbors of Different Faiths

On the other side of the building, President Johnson toured the Blackfoot Community Food Pantry. Ron Thompson, one of the founders of Community Dinner Table, told her that it began with him and Lee Hammett, men of different faiths, who came together in 2008 to feed their neighbors. That partnership marked the start of interfaith cooperation in Blackfoot, and it continues to grow as renovations to the outreach center expand its reach.

Gene Balsmeier, vice president of Community Dinner Table, presented President Johnson with a cutting board he had handcrafted for her. “We wanted her to take a little piece of Blackfoot home with her,” he said.

‘A Little Kiss From Heaven’

Friday night, President Johnson told the women of Blackfoot how God’s love usually reaches us.

“Typically, the way Their love is expressed is through someone else,” she said of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. “They’ve never shown up on my doorstep, but the Savior sent one of my Relief Society sisters when I needed someone.”

President Johnson invited every woman to watch for what she called “a little kiss from heaven.” She had spent the day meeting the volunteers who deliver exactly that.

Southeast Idaho Roots

President Johnson leads a global organization of more than 8 million women, and her roots run through this corner of Idaho. She was born in Pocatello. Her father was born in Malta, Idaho, and her mother attended Rigby High School; the two met at Idaho State University.

“I’m so happy to be here,” she said in Blackfoot, “to feel like I’ve come home to my Idaho roots.” In Idaho Falls, she put it another way: “I’m a fellow tenacious Idaho woman.”

On Saturday morning, President Johnson toured the Idaho Falls Area Humanitarian Center, a nonprofit, non-denominational organization. Directors Mozelle and Don Neville have been there since the center opened in 2010. Volunteers make items like wooden toys and gather donated household and hygiene supplies, which reach people in need through more than 100 partner agencies.

No one at the center is paid, and many volunteers have served alongside the Nevilles for years. “People come to serve someone else, and they leave finding joy for themselves,” Mozelle Neville said.

Meeting later with stake Relief Society leaders in Idaho Falls, President Johnson credited people just like them. “The real work gets done by the people on the ground who take care of all the things that need done,” she said.

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More than 900 people filled the Blackfoot Northwest Stake Center on Friday evening to hear President Johnson’s message of hope. On Saturday, nearly 1,000 women gathered in Idaho Falls, joined by sisters watching from as far away as Salmon.

“Take a mental snapshot with me of this moment,” she said, looking out over the Blackfoot congregation. “You’re not alone. You’re surrounded by earthly angels.”

‘Jesus Christ Is Relief’

It was a message that the weekend had already shown the global leader of the women of the Church of Jesus Christ. Relief Society’s purpose hasn’t changed since 1842, she taught: to bring temporal and spiritual relief to all of God’s children. “Jesus Christ is relief,” she said. “He’s the source of all of our relief. And we’re members of the Relief Society, bringing His relief to all of God’s children.”

President Johnson said trusting the Lord doesn’t remove life’s burdens, but He lightens them when we take His yoke upon us. “We tend to be tenacious and think that if we just grit our teeth, we can get through it,” she said. “Covenants, including those made in the temples now found across Southeast Idaho, place us in that yoke with Him. Easier, not easy. Remember that.”

She closed in Blackfoot with the account in 2 Kings 4 of the widow whose single pot of oil filled every empty vessel her neighbors lent. Many women feel they have nothing left to give, she acknowledged. “Sometimes our empty vessels are the making of miracles.”

Elder Rodney H. Hillam, Area Seventy, reminded the congregation how rare the evening was. “Just pinch yourself,” he said. “Eight million sisters, and President Johnson is here tonight with us. What a privilege.”