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50 www.thejewelrybook.com Giving Back V I B H O R - J A I P E R F O O T G I V I N G B A C K I remember the phone call as though it was just yesterday. We were driving through a torrential downpour in northeast Pennsylvania, the kind of weather that makes you hold your breath for a moment when you fi nd yourself next to sixteen- wheelers that seem to multiply as the weather intensifi es. I was driving and Manish Dhadda, the founding partner of VIBHOR, was struggling to understand the caller, as he repeatedly asked him what his name was and tried to determine what he needed. After a few moments, I gleaned that the call was related to Jaipur Foot. The caller, it emerged, was a Nigerian man and a Yonkers, New York, resident, named Sunday. He had found his way to Manish when someone told him about Jaipur Foot and VIBHOR's support of the organization. Sunday needed a replacement knee and he didn't have the money to pay for one. Fast forward about three-months and he had his knee and it had cost him nothing beyond the effort needed to fi nd Manish. Sunday's life has been transformed by Jaipur Foot. He is one of 1.7 million people in twenty-nine dif- ferent countries around the world who have had their lives changed by the organization, the largest of its kind on the planet. It is sometimes diffi cult to relate to numbers as large as those, but we never forget the fi rst call, the fi rst conversation, and a life reinvigorated because of what Jaipur Foot does. To say that Jaipur Foot is special to VIBHOR would be an understatement. Not only do we donate time and money to the organization – sending thousands of dollars each year towards the approximately $70 per limb cost (that's $70, not thousands of dollars as would be the case here in the U.S.), but I sometimes need to coax Manish off his Jaipur Foot pedestal to have a business conversation, such is his passion for the organization. D.R. Mehta, a graduate of the Sloan School of Management at MIT, and a former Deputy Governor of the Indian Reserve Bank and Chair- man of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, founded Jaipur Foot in 1975. He was moved to dedicate his life to the cause after a near-death experi- ence that saw him almost lose a leg to amputation. The experience got Mehta thinking about what happens to people of lesser means in similar situations and how their lives are profoundly and permanently impacted after such an accident. Jaipur Foot has an open-door policy, that enables any person in need to avail of their services. It manages overhead to an incredibly thin 4%, far better than other non-profi ts, ensuring that 96 cents of every dollar goes directly to the people who need it most. Mehta said "I believe that if I divert even one penny to an activity other than serving the poorest of the poor, I am committing a moral sin and a legal wrong." When he is asked why he doesn't charge people even a small fee he replies, "The minute you start instituting a charge for your service, the most vul- nerable populations are the fi rst sector of society to be marginalized." These words from Devendra Raj (D.R.) Mehta perfectly capture the driving spirit and core mission behind Jaipur Foot. Jaipur Foot is not just an organization founded in Manish Dhadda's hometown of Jaipur. It is deeply rooted in his heart and one of his great passions in life. http://www.jaipurfootusa.org Jaipur Foot – Changing Lives One Limb at a Time All photoes showing Founder D.R. Mehta.

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