"Fast offerings are used for one purpose only: to bless the lives of those in need. Every dollar given to the bishop as a fast offering goes to assist the poor. When donations exceed local needs, they are passed along to fulfill the needs elsewhere" (Joseph B. Wirthlin, "The Law of the Fast," Ensign, May 2001, 74).

"In every ward and branch in the Church, once a month, we hold a fast and testimony meeting. We fast for two meals before we attend. With the money saved, and adding more to it whenever we can, we pay a generous fast offering. The bishop and the branch president use those offerings, under inspiration, to care for the poor and the needy. Thus, by paying a fast offering we give comfort to those in need of comfort as we promised that we would" (Henry B. Eyring, "Witnesses for God," Ensign, Nov. 1996, 32).

"The longer I live, the more impressed I am with the Lord's system of caring for the poor and needy. Surely no man would think of such a simple yet profound way of satisfying human needs—to grow spiritually and temporally through periodic fasting and then donating the amount saved from refraining from partaking of those meals to the bishop to be used to administer to the needs of the poor, the ill, the downtrodden, who need help and support to make their way through life.

"It was President [J. Reuben] Clark who said: 'The fundamental principle of all Church relief work is that it must be carried on by fast offerings and other voluntary donations and contributions. This is the order established by the Lord. Tithing is not primarily designed for that purpose and must not be used except in the last extremity' " (L. Tom Perry, "The Law of the Fast," Ensign, May 1986, 31).

"One of the important things the Lord has told us to do is to be liberal in our payment of fast offerings. I would like you to know that there are great rewards for so doing—both spiritual and temporal rewards. The Lord says that the efficacy of our prayers depends upon our liberality to the poor" (Marion G. Romney, "Fundamental Welfare Services," Ensign, May 1979, 95).

"There is a great connection between the answering of your prayers and your contributions to the Lord's poor. There isn't a more spiritualizing thing that you can do than to go without food and give to the Lord's poor, that food which you go without. You have heard about the principle of the fast, haven't you? That's part of this great problem of learning to live the Lord's way. . . . And I am as sure as I live, and I can say to you with certainty, that if you will do that, if you will take of your substance and give to the Lord's poor liberally, the Lord will never leave you without the necessities of life. And it might make the difference between your having homes and your being without homes" (Marion G. Romney, "Learning to Live in the Lord's Way" [address delivered at BYU Leadership Week, June 17, 1953], 7).

"Let me promise you here today that if the Latter-day Saints will honestly and conscientiously from this day forth, as a people, keep the monthly fast . . . and if in addition to that they will pay their honest tithing, it will solve all of the problems in connection with taking care of the Latter-day Saints. . . .

"Every living soul among the Latter-day Saints that fasts two meals once a month will be benefited spiritually and be built up in the faith of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ—benefited spiritually in a wonderful way—and sufficient means will be in the hands of the bishops to take care of all the poor" (Heber J. Grant, Gospel Standards, comp. G. Homer Durham [1941], 123).

"Respecting how much a man of property shall give annually we have no special instructions to give; he is to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all, wherever he finds them, to believe and obey all that God has revealed, does reveal, or will reveal, to do good unto all men, to be a member in good standing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" (Joseph Smith, Times and Seasons, Mar. 15, 1842, 732).

"Let this be an ensample to all saints, and there will never be any lack of bread: When the poor are starving, let those who have, fast one day and give what they otherwise would have eaten to the bishops for the poor, and every one will abound for a long time; and this is one great and important principle of fasts approved of the Lord. And so long as the saints will all live to this principle with glad hearts and cheerful countenances they will always have an abundance" (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 7:413).

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