Posted by Peggy Strom on Oct 26, 2017
Our speaker today was Franklin Gummadi, who was accompanied by his wife Shirley Franklin. Franklin was employed at 3M for 33 years but the couple is now retired.  They are the founders of an organization known as Pushpa which operates in Franklin's home country of India.  Pushpa was founded in 2006 with the the objective of helping the rural poor in India.  They intended to focus in three areas:  Children's education, basic public health, and community development with the initial focus on community development.  This took the form of the issuance of micro loans to help villagers in the area of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh India start small businesses as a means of support.  Initial results were positive, but gains have waned in later years.  The focus of the organization has recently shifted to children's education in the region, working to get and keep all children in school.  The Caste system is still very much alive and well in India, however, which has made it very difficult for members of lower castes to obtain higher education.  There is still also a cultural barrier against educating females into high school and beyond.  Our club, through Bob Freed, has been talking with Franklin about the potential for us to partner with Pushpa in some way.  These talks are continuing.