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'A pathway out of poverty'

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SALT LAKE CITY — Over the past year, hundreds of thousands of members from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have taken advantage of a relatively new program offered by the church and have learned to be more self-reliant.

Members in 113 different countries have gained new skills, have furthered their education and have started their own businesses thanks to a program that found its roots in the Perpetual Education Fund. The program is now called “Perpetual Education/Self-Reliance Services.”

It’s been 15 years since President Gordon B. Hinckley, prophet for the LDS Church, stood in general conference and introduced the Perpetual Education Fund. This loan program, administered by the church, was designed to help young, worthy Latter-Day Saints who were living in impoverished areas of the world gain access to better education and thus improve their living conditions.

When The Perpetual Education Fund (PEF) was first announced it was met with great enthusiasm. Elder John K. Carmack was called to administer the program in 2001. He and a small group of others went to work outlining and organizing how it should be run. It was a loan program but none of the church money went into the creation of the fund. During his talk President Hinckley suggested to people that if they wanted to be a part of it they could make contributions. Carmack said, “Well when you get a suggestion like that from the prophet you know it’s going to achieve great results.”

According to Carmack, the money started piling in immediately. A couple of people who had heard about it gave a sizeable donation, but most of the donations were modest donations that came from thousands and thousands of people.

“When President Hinckley announced The Perpetual Education Fund in the general priesthood meeting of the church, it was like a bombshell," Carmack said. "Everybody was just as excited as could be. They knew immediately that it came from God and that President Hinckley had hit on something very simple but powerful that had the ability to change the church.”

Since PEF was first established, 78,781 members have received education loans, and the program has now expanded to include other opportunities for improvement as well. The new initiative is known as Self-Reliance Services. These services include many different items including 12-week courses that teach principles for starting and growing your own business, improving your current employment situation and gaining more education for a better life. The hope for these extended services is to provide more people with the help they need to improve both their spiritual and temporal living conditions.

For more information about these programs go to: www.srs.lds.org

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Angie Denison

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