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Summarized by Kent Larsen
President Hinckley Announces Educational Assistance Fund At National Press Club
Kent Larsen 8Mar00 N1
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington
D.C., President Hinckley departed somewhat from his prepared remarks
(available on the LDS Church's website) and announced that the LDS
Church is preparing to establish an educational loan program to
assist LDS Church members outside the United States in obtaining
higher education. The exciting announcement comes after the number of
LDS Church members outside the U.S. has exceeded those inside the U.S.
Hinckley described the program as a kind of "Perpetual Education
Fund," calling it after the Church's Perpetual Emmigration Fund,
which was used in the latter part of the 1800s to assist Church
members emmigrating to Utah from around the world.
His prepared remarks, available at h
ttp://www.lds.org/med_inf/chu_lea_spe/20000308_Hinckley.html,
President Hinckley said:
"We face a new challenge today. In the underdeveloped countries we
have young men and women, many of them of capacity, but without
opportunity to improve themselves. They cannot do so without help. We
are now assisting some and are working on plans to assist many more
to acquire education in their own lands. We are providing a ladder by
which they can climb out of the impoverishment that surrounds them to
make something betterof their lives, to occupy places of honor and
respect in society, andto make a contribution of significance to the
nation of which they are a part."
But in the remarks he delivered, he described the program as a
revolving loan program that he said the Church was preparing.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Hinckley said that the Church was offering
assistance to the victims of flooding in Mozambique, renting two
helicopters to ferry food, supplies and aid workers to where they are
needed and providing some food and supplies.
The talk was available live only on KUED radio, which also broadcast
the National Press Club luncheon live over the Internet. Transcripts,
audio and video tapes of the speech can be purchased from the Federal
News Service at (888) 343-1940.
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