Couple of years ago, Lakshmi Somasundaram spent her summer as a High School Junior at Kasturba Gandhi Kanya Gurukulam in Vedaraniam.  Gurukulam is home to about 2,000 girls—many of whom are Tsunami victims, orphans, or amongst the underprivileged. After volunteering at the Gurukulam, Lakshmi boarded the flight to Philadelphia, with a determination to fulfill the request made by the Gurukulam girls. They had requested her help to replace their dilapidated and 55-year old thatched roof science lab, with a modern facility.  For the past couple of years, through Tamil Nadu Foundation (TNF), Lakshmi took several initiatives and raised $40,000 to help educate the poor girls in rural Tamil Nadu.  Thanks to Lakshmi's efforts and the generous donations from the American Tamil community, a brand new two story Science Center with state of the art lab equipment was inaugurated on June 28^, 2010 by Honorable U. Mathivaanan, Minister for Dairy Development of Tamil Nadu.  The Minister was visibly moved by Lakshmi's gesture and said, “I'm an atheist, yet Lakshmi has pushed me to call her a gift of God.”   Congratulations, Lakshmi! We are proud of your leadership in helping educate poor girls in rural India. Lakshmi is seen here with her family and the Minister Mr.U.Mathivaanan.