Tracking the number of donors is not simple as many contributions are made at the local level and not itemized, but an estimated 500,000 to 600,000 church members responded in the first three years, he said. "It is clear that the program will have a viable future." Besides individual donations, the church has made a substantial contribution in manpower and support for the program, Elder Carmack said.

President Hinckley's choice of the term Perpetual Education Fund was a tie to the church's past. In the mid-19th century gathering to Utah Territory, church members in need could draw on a Perpetual Emigration Fund, which they repaid in either money or service, to help others to join the Saints.

"That was a style of meeting a problem, that of getting the Latter-day Saints to Utah. Now the problem is the opposite — helping them to stay where they are and build the church in their own countries."

The success stories very quickly began to accumulate. A PEF brochure told some of them:

• Tatiana and Maylin, Peru. From a very poor family, the sisters were sent by their father to Lima, where they were to make their own way. They scratched out a meager existence until PEF gave them an opportunity to train, one in nursing and the other in medical technology.

• Nadine, Haiti. In a country with 80 percent unemployment, she studied to be a teacher, with a job guaranteed.

• Alfonso, Mexico: With a wife and child living in a small room without water, he applied for a PEF loan to enhance a natural artistic talent. A six-month program in computer graphic design prepared him for a position with a stable company at twice his previous salary and better prospects for the future.