| February 2009 Articles Adelante is featured in the 2009 Whole Foods Market Calendar
The Adelante Foundation is proud to announce its participation in the 2009 Whole Foods Market Calendar benefiting the Whole Planet Foundation. The Adelante Foundation is represented as August and September and is featured on the cover. The calendar is only $2 and offers over $20 dollars of savings inside. In addition, 100% of sales benefit the Whole Planet Foundation. Please help support microfinance and pick up a calendar from your local Whole Foods today!
Angela Gonzalez - Assembly Ologosim by Sophia Anderson
Angela Gonzalez lives in the cool mountains of the department of Intibucá, the center of the indigenous Lenca culture in Honduras. When complemented on the striking blue dress she is wearing she proudly states that it is representative of this culture to which she belongs. Her Adelante assembly, Ologosim, is named after the community where she lives and literally translates to "a lot of water and mud" in the Lenca language. She explains that this is because of the great quantities of rain they receive during the "winter," or rainy season, which extends from April to October.
Angela has been an Adelante client and her assembly's community educator for over two years, and she recently began her fifth loan cycle. She enjoys talking about the successful tortilla business she has created with her loans from Adelante. When she receives a loan, she buys ten sacks of corn for 320 Lempiras, or about $16, each. She also buys enough wood to fuel her stove. Four times per week she makes a one hour trip by bus to the market in the city of La Esperanza to sell her tortillas. Demand is high and she has no problem selling her product. She makes 500 Lempiras in profit per week and every two weeks she pays her 590 Lempiras loan quota. Angela and her husband also have a plot of land on which they cultivate corn during the growing season. Her loans from Adelante have allowed them to expand the area they cultivate and the increased profits from this enterprise have also contributed to their increased household income.
Slowly but surely, Angela and her family have seen a change in their standard of living. The most tangible difference can be seen in the education of her children. Her two oldest daughters, who are eighteen years old, were only able to study until the third and fourth grades because Angela and her husband did not have the resources to continue sending them to school. In contrast, her four youngest children are all currently enrolled in school and will continue to study through high school if they choose to do so.
Another improvement that Angela and her family are preparing to make this year is to replace their wooden home with one made from adobe. Angela credits Adelante with making this possible. She is happy with the customer service she has received and she says that the good service has allowed her assembly to grow. She and her compañeras enjoy working with Adelante in part because with each new loan, the amount increases – for example, two years ago when Angela took her first loan, it was only for 500 Lempiras, while with her most recent loan she borrowed 5000 Lempiras!
We would like to introduce our two newest additions to the Adelante Staff, Erin Kilbury and Matt Lemmon.
Erin Kilbury joins our U.S. operations as Outreach and Development Coordinator and will be expanding upon the role of Lindsey Daly. In this capacity, Erin will provide communication and outreach to donors. A Minneapolis native and recent graduate of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, Erin enjoys running, triathlons, and yoga. Prior to The Adelante Foundation, Erin interned with Native Americans in Philanthropy, a Minneapolis based non-profit organization.
Matt Lemmon joins our Honduras operations as a Compliance Officer. Matt will help provide financial reporting to granting institutions, which we rely on to fund much of our activities. Matt grew up in Thousand Oaks, California, and studied Print Journalism at Brigham Young University in Utah. After college, Matt worked for six years underwriting and administering commercial credit facilities, as a Construction and Development Credit Officer for M&T Bank (NYSE: MTB). For the past three years, Matt has been active as a grassroots volunteer for the ONE Campaign, a poverty awareness and political action campaign.
Take a Microfinance Immersion Trip with the Adelante Foundation!
Are you interested in seeing and experiencing the positive effects of microfinance? The Adelante Foundation is planning a Microfinance Immersion Trip to Honduras for March of 2009. By joining our team, you will get the chance to see the work that Adelante does in the field as well as enjoy beautiful Honduran scenery.
Become a Microfinance Immersion Trip member today. Find out more information by visiting our web page or by emailing Andrea at andrea@adelantefoundation.org with your name, contact information, and any questions you may have!
Photograph of the Month
View from the Intibuca office.
Social Networking
|
