Groans, eye rolls, and a “piiissh, yeah right, mom,” is the response I get from my kids when I remind them how lucky they are to go to school, get an education, and one day attend a university. Like most kids, they enjoy the back-to-school shopping, but dread the end of summer and the first day of school. The irony is that their education–the very thing many kids in America dread–is the very thing that breaks the cycle of poverty.
In many third-world countries, thousands are doing just that as they qualify for our Church’s Perpetual Education Fund (PEF). The divinely inspired program was first announced on March 31, 2001 by former Church President Gordon B. Hinkley. It was designed to help worthy men and women become self-reliant by receiving a good education.
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