Mentoring group quelling poverty

Enterprise Mentors International, founded 19 years ago by Mormons who wanted to lift people out of poverty in developing nations, observed its annual fund-raising gala in Salt Lake City Oct. 9, honoring the efforts of Padma Venkataraman to help people in her home nation of India who suffer from leprosy.

The daughter of former India President R. Venkataraman, she struggled to come to terms with the plight of people afflicted with the disease. Feeling that nothing should be given for free to people, lest they not value it, she helped develop a plan whereby sufferers in the leper colonies could receive loans to start their own businesses. This would create a micro-economy within and between the colonies and eliminate the need for begging. The organization she helped found expanded to more than 1,000 people afflicted with leprosy throughout eastern India.

Mrs. Venkataraman was given the Enterprise Mentors International Humanitarian Service Award, presented by Ron Gunnell, a member of the EMI Board of Directors.

In response, she dedicated the award to leprosy-afflicted people of the world and thanked EMI for choosing the subject of leprosy, saying it has been forgotten in many parts of the world.

See the full story on ldschurchnews.com.