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By Kent Larsen
New York Humanitarian Fair Looks at Service Opportunities
NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- The New York Metro LDS Professional Association
held its New York Humanitarian Fair 2001 in the New York Stake Center
on Saturday, educating about 100 attendees on service opportunities,
both through the many Mormon-related charities and through several
New York-area organizations. The half-day conference featured
workshops from five different organizations, including one session
that covered the work of many other Mormon groups, and a keynote
address by Chieko N. Okazaki, former member of the Relief Society
General Presidency.
The conference held workshops in two sessions, featuring
presentations by The Pathway Center, which runs an orphanage, First
Hope, a Nepal-based orphanage, CHOICE Humanitarian, sponsor of
humanitarian expeditions to the Andes, the Frank Foundation, an
adoption agency and orphanage for children in Russia, and Enterprise
Mentors International, a provider of business training and
microcredit services. In addition, BYU professor Warner Woodworth
told one session about the work of eight other groups, all started by
LDS Church members seeking to better the condition of those in
third-world countries. Woodworth is also behind Unitus, an
support-group for Mormon-related charities, which is probably the
best single place to find out about charitable efforts of Mormons
working outside the LDS Church.
In her keynote remarks, Okazaki sought to persuade those attending
that charitable efforts were the obligation of all LDS Church
members, and suggested that many of those efforts should come of our
own volition. She also said that while those without means are
excused from giving monetarily, they should find ways to give and
should seek creative ways to benefit their fellow man.
The conference sponsor, the New York Metro LDS Professional
Association, is a local professional association affiliated with the
BYU Management Society and the J. Reuben Clark Law Society.
Sources:
Conference Program
New York Humanitarian Fair 2001 22Sep01
Kent Larsen 22Sep01
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