The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ humanitarian mission has some growing room now thanks to a new bishops’ central storehouse that has more than 570,000-square-feet.

The Bishops’ Central Storehouse, located on about 36 acres in Salt Lake City, will serve as a distribution center to five other bishops’ central storehouses located throughout the United States and Canada.

The services provided from this building combine what was once an operation of five buildings located throughout Salt Lake, owned and leased by the LDS Church. It will eliminate duplicate work and decrease response time in emergency response.

Don Johnson, director of production and distribution for Church Welfare Services, described the significance of the storehouse.

“We’re more efficient, were able to handle the needs and respond to the emergencies a little faster,” Johnson said. “Now we’re all here doing it the way we should.”

The building includes multiple sections for its operations, and can handle between 65,000 and 70,000 pallets of goods.

A fulfillment area, which is set aside for packing and moving supplies, has many more things than food. Johnson said they have everything from diapers to wheelchairs.

When passing from one area to another, the building can sense movement with motion detection lights that turn on upon entering an area and off after exiting. Rapid response doors are designed to open at the drop of a hat. As someone approaches a door, in anything from a forklift to a golf cart, the doors quickly open to allow pause free passing.

The refrigeration area houses most of the fruits and vegetables. To keep the food fresh, it is separated so the potatoes don’t end up tasting like apples and vice-versa. In another effort to prevent spoiling, the refrigeration area also has its own loading docks to ensure the food stays cold.

The freezer section is through another rapid response door is which is maintained at a brisk 10 degrees below zero. It houses mostly meat and butter and connects to the refrigeration section for fast, cold loading.

Housed in the same facility is the LDS Church’s fleet of trucks. The fleet, composed of 43 semi-trucks and more than 100 trailers, not only distributes the contents of the Bishops’ Central Storehouse, but picks up and moves items like livestock and grain throughout the United States.

The entire fleet is based at the new central storehouse. The trucks are cleaned, maintained and fueled before leaving to deliver goods.