People Helping People Global Blog

Monday, January 23, 2017

Introduction

Good evening! I would like to briefly introduce myself...

My name is Nicolette Ware. I am a 2012 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University. I hold a B.A. in Social Work with an emphasis in Spanish. While at NWU, I completed my social work practicum at the Child Advocacy Center where I served as an intern to one of the forensic interview specialists. I, also, was a Risk-Taking Mission & Justice intern through the United Methodist Church where I focused on human trafficking awareness and helped coordinate the 2010 Give Me Your Hand alternative spring break trip to Washington D.C. At the moment, I work as a communications specialist for an ELCA church in Lincoln, Nebraska. I will be serving as the volunteer manager for PHPG. I am really excited about serving in this role and capacity. This past summer I traveled to Armenia to volunteer for two weeks through the Armenian Volunteer Corps. International development and service are passions of mine. My hope is to get to know everyone and grow in this position (and be an effective leader). My goals for this year are to travel to Vermont to participate in the Brain Freezer 5k, travel to Nicaragua towards the end of the year, and improve my Spanish language skills.

Friday, December 9, 2016

Our Holiday Letter about Maria and Her Bread-Making Business

For this blog entry, we wanted to share our holiday letter about Maria and the successes that she has had thanks to the hard work of the PHPG staff, partnerships with other non-profits, and the generosity of folks like you. We hope that you enjoy Isabel's letter.

- Alex

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Hola, PHPG Supporter!

My name is Isabel Tuck, and I am the Executive Director of PHPG. 100% of the work that I do for PHPG is as a volunteer. In fact, all of the work of our entire stateside team (which includes you) – volunteers, board members, donors, and advocates – is done completely from the kindness of the heart so that all of the funds can go directly to the projects.

We do it because we believe in PHPG’s mission to eliminate extreme poverty through 0% interest microloans. More specifically, PHPG provides clients with the tools they need to raise themselves out of poverty. We do not rely on a model of handouts, and over 95% of the people that borrow from us return the funds.

To understand on a personal level how you’ve helped our clients, please read the story below about one of our most successful loan recipients, named Maria de la Concepcion.

Maria, her husband – Orlando – and their three children – Juby, Orlando, and Antonio – live in the small village of Soledad de Cruz, near Matagalpa in Northern Nicaragua. Maria is on her third loan with PHPG. She received her first loan back in 2013 through a collaboration project between PHPG and EOS, an organization specializing in environmental technology and innovation. With a loan from us, Maria’s family purchased an energy-efficient EOS barrel oven, which bakes faster, uses 80% less wood, and produces far fewer toxins.

With her new oven, Maria bakes various cosas de horno, which translates to “things from the oven.” Maria’s cosas de horno are extraordinary, and the members of her community agree, as we came to find out through her successful sales.

With her second, slightly larger loan, Maria bought more pans and bulk ingredients to improve her baking business.

Now with her third loan, she has invested in bulk wood for baking and has hired an individual to help her sell her cosas de horno on the buses that run between the capital and Matagalpa. Thanks to a few loans – ranging from only $125 to $400 – Maria has risen as a leader in her community and proved to be a model borrower.

You are the reason that folks like Maria are able to raise their families out of poverty. Without your support, Maria and others like her would never see their business ideas come alive. Your loans help provide financial stability for entire families that used to have to decide between fixing a leaky roof during rainy season and providing quality food for their family.

A contribution of as $125 provides an individual with the opportunity to start or expand a small business and work towards securing financial stability. PHPG has the goal of raising $13,000 this holiday season. Achieving this goal would allow for over 100 motivated entrepreneurs to start the tough journey out of extreme poverty.

To make a donation to our organization and help clients like Maria achieve their greatest goals, you can go to http://phpgmicrolending.org/donate. PHPG is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization so all contributions are tax-deductible.

Please realize that ANY amount that you can give is greatly appreciated and contributes to the overall goal. As a supporter of PHPG, no matter how you contribute, whether it is time, money, encouragement, or advocacy, it lets us know that you believe in the potential of the Marias of the world.

I want to personally thank you for supporting PHPG. It’s always a pleasure to be able to share the joys and successes that you have created in folks like Maria.

To a world free of extreme poverty!

Isabel Tuck

Executive Director, PHPG

isabel@phpgmicrolending.org

(802) 318-4488

P.S. – There are many opportunities to hear about how your dollars and hours are impacting the folks of Central America. You can like us on Facebook or reply to this email, and we’ll add you to our newsletter email list.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Ways to Give to PHPG on #GivingTuesday

Below are some ways that you can get involved this #GivingTuesday. Many groups like the Gates Foundation are generously contributing matches to organizations like PHPG, so your impact can be doubled!

Donation Matches

Donate to my fundraiser on Facebook & double your donation

Facebook is waiving fees and the Gates Foundation is matching the first $500k in donations to non-profits!
That means all donations are doubled!

Set up your own Fundraiser for PHPG on Facebook

Go to https://www.facebook.com/fundraisers.
Click "+ Create a Fundraiser," and search Nonprofits for "People Helping People Global Inc."
Like my Fundraiser above, all donations to your Fundraiser will be matched by the Gates Foundation. Feel free to copy my info or use any pictures from our Facebook site.

Check to see if your company matches your dollars or volunteer hours

You'd be surprised. Most companies have a donation matching plan.
The site has all of the links, forms, and instructions you need to double your impact: https://doublethedonation.com/giving-tuesday/.

Don't Have Cash to Donate Right Now? Other Ways You Can Help

Support PHPG through the Amazon Smile program

Follow this link and choose "People Helping People Global, Inc" as your favorite charity
Amazon will donate 0.5% of every purchase: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/26-4624885.

Join GoodWorld through this link

Get $10 free dollars to donate to PHPG: https://gdw.io/d0263e.
It took less than 5 minutes to set up.
**Note: You will be asked to add credit card information, but you do not need to contribute any of your own funds for PHPG to receive this $10 donation.

You Can Always Just Donate the Normal Ways

Our goal is to raise $13,000 this holiday season which will fund over 100 new loans.
You can donate at http://phpgmicrolending.org/donate.
If you prefer to send a check, you can make that out to "PHPG" or "People Helping People Global" and mail it to 89 Evergreen Rd., Fairfax, VT 05404.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

June and July in Matagalpa

It looks like we didn't work a lot last two months but on the contrary we were so busy going through evaluation process with various new groups and distributing new loans in Matagalpa that it didn’t give us any time to write a nice post. Sorry about that!

There is a small sample of clients that received new loans in Matagalpa’s area in June and July 2016:

Deybi Gonzalez

Deybi Gonzalez, 24-year-old, from Soledad de la Cruz, is currently on maternity leave with her baby girl of 10 months but in her free time she sells jewelry to help her husband, a construction worker, to support their small family. Deybi is a leader of the group “Mujeres Emprendedoras y Virtuosas” that consists of other four women (who sell cosmetics, jewelry, secondhand clothes and tortillas) from Soledad de la Cruz.


Maria de los Angeles Ocampo

Maria de los Angeles Ocampo, 47-year-old, from Matagalpa, is a shoe maker. She helps her husband who has been making shoes for Matagalpa’s shoe stores all his life. Maria is a member of the group “Bendicion de Dios” together with other three women (one of them is a dressmaker, other has a small grocery store and the last one sells milk products).

Teresa del Carmen Cruz

Teresa del Carmen Cruz, 32-year-old, from Matagalpa, is the leader of another new group we have in Matagalpa “Las Emprendedoras”. She has a particularly interesting project. With help of her father she planted small plot of beans. After the harvest she will sell the beans so this way she can get some extra money for her family two times per year.

Adaly Jarquin

Adaly Jarquin, 48-year-old, from Matagalpa, sells fruits close to Matagalpa’s central park. Adaly is the leader of group “Mi refugio” which unites street vendors of jewelry, lottery, fruits and vegetables and clothes.

Erlyn Castro

Erlyn Castro, 29-year-old, from Matagalpa, repairs cellphones. He is a member of our first male-group “Elite”. As the majority of microlending organizations we have more women as clients than men. The theory says that microlending works better with women but since these men demonstrated us that they are very hard working we decided to make an exception and give them a chance to show us that they also deserve our support.

Janiel Rivera

Janiel Rivera, 25-year-old, from Sebaco, sells refreshments. She is a member of our first group in Sebaco “En Dios Confiamos” together with other three ladies who sell clothes, raspado or street food.

Eveling Escoto

Eveling Escoto, 26-year-old, from Sebaco, is part of our second group in Sebaco called “Dios con Nosotros”. We helped her to start her own business with secondhand clothes. She has a support of other two group members who have years of experience selling clothes in Sebaco.

Altogether since the last post we have distributed loans to 7 new groups, 29 new clients!!! It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun as you can see below :)