D.E.F. Announces First Indian Beneficiary; Dilip Mehta Matches $50,000 Grant
March 12, 15
(IDEX Online News) – The Diamond Empowerment Fund (D.E.F) has approved a $50,000 grant to the first educational institution in India to receive funding from the organization.
D.E.F. said the Veerayatan College of Engineering, College of Pharmacy and College of Business Administration received the grant because of how its innovative approach to education improves the quality of life for its students.
“Veerayatan epitomizes the convergence of excellence in education with holistic sustainable development,” said says Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., senior strategic advisor for the D.E.F. “This institution is making a positive transformative difference in India.”
Chavis, along with D.E.F executive director Nancy Orem Lyman and diamantaire Dilip Mehta, D.E.F. board member and CEO of Rosy Blue met with officials of the school during which Mehta made an on-the-spot commitment to match D.E.F’s donation to the school for this year and all subsequent years, bringing the total donation to $100,000 in 2015.
“I just felt in my heart…and my mind…that this was the absolute right decision to make. Empowering young people from diamond communities through access to higher education has been D.E.F’s mission from the beginning. What bigger community than that found in India where nine out of 10 diamonds in the world are cut and polished,” said Mehta.
Two students from Veerayatan will attend the D.E.F’s Diamonds in the Sky Las Vegas event on May 28.