The LDS Church is a worldwide institution constituted by collections of wards or congregations called stakes. A president or bishop leads each stake. The LDS Church presents to the entire world with the same structure, independent of the country of the congregation.
The church helps people in need through humanitarian services such as charities, education funds, and more. The Helping Hands (HH) program, for example, provides priesthood leaders with service opportunities for members of the church. Among the service opportunities from HH are disaster relief and community service.
The objectives of the HH program, directed by the LDS Church, are to strengthen church members while helping the needy and sharing the gospel indirectly. HH also contributes to the improvement of the church’s reputation, mainly when local media spreads knowledge of the church.
