Posted by Peggy Goldman on August 17, 2009 at 9:46pm
All travelers have an appreciation for the natural beauty, unique culture and fascinating history of the foreign lands they explore. And it is through this exploration that they also see the flip side of those exotic lands, the hardships endured by some of the people, devastating poverty amid the cultural treasures, lack of basic resources such as clean water, electricity, proper shelter, and crippling social class distinctions that crush hopes and dreams. Inspired by Nobel Prize Laureate Mohammad Younis and his Grameen Bank, who proved that a small amount of money in the right hands can make huge changes in the lives of people, Friendly Planet Travel has joined Kiva to establish a company lending team to provide micro-loans to struggling entrepreneurs around the world. Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending Web site which makes it possible to lend small amounts of money directly to individual entrepreneurs. The Friendly Planet Travel Kiva page can be found at www.kiva.org/team/FriendlyPlanetTravel.“A micro-loan of as little as $25 can help a seamstress in Uganda or a mechanic in Guatemala purchase the equipment or goods they need to expand their business and make it profitable and self-sustaining,” says Zach Grossman, Reservations Associate and Friendly Planet Travel Kiva team leader. Grossman also started the Kiva initiative at Friendly Planet Travel, envisioning a company team that could easily number in the hundreds which, in turn, could raise thousands in loan funds. “Millions of people simply don’t have the resources or opportunities to prosper. Giving a micro-loan is like giving a person the tools they need not only to survive but to lift themselves out of poverty.”Friendly Planet Travel is asking all of their friends and travelers to join them in giving back to those amazing destinations they visit. Through Kiva, individuals help real people make strides towards economic independence and improved lives for themselves, their families, and their communities. Friendly Planet has offered to add $25 to the accounts of the first 40 members to join the Friendly Planet Kiva lending team and lend $25 or more of their own. Four days after the launch of the Friendly Planet Travel lending team, more than 100 people had joined and funded their loans, bringing the total loans to $5,000 sent to entrepreneurs in countries such as Peru, Uganda, and Cambodia, to name just a few. Visit the Friendly Planet Travel blog to see why company Founder and President Peggy Goldman chose to align her company with Kiva.For more information about Friendly Planet Travel’s Kiva lending team, please visit the company’s blog at http://FriendlyPlanetTravel.com/blog, the Kiva lending page at http://www.kiva.org/team/FriendlyPlanetTravel; or contact Jackie Zima at 610-228-2138 (office), 215-534-2973 (mobile), or Jackie@GregoryFCA.com.
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