On World Food Day, Give a Loan, Feed a Family

It makes perfect sense to me that Poverty Eradication Day (Oct. 17) and World Food Day (Oct. 16) are just a day apart. Hunger is a direct result of poverty, so if we can help eradicate poverty, we can also make sure that people everywhere have enough to eat. Today, one-sixth of all humanity suffers from hunger. Every year, 15 million children die of hunger.

Here’s a simple but effective way to take a stand on global poverty and hunger. For $25, I purchased a patch on the Global Opportunity Quilt and received a $25 gift card to use at OptINnow.org. I will be helping to fund a business loan to Alicia Janea, 59, a resident of Pototan Iloilo in the Phillipines. (My sister-in-law is from the Philippines and I’ve heard her stories of desperate poverty.) Alicia needs additional capital to expand her business, which buys and sells vegetables, and to supplement the income her husband makes as a farmer. Because her current income is sometimes just enough to cover her business’s transportation expenses, Alicia dreams of purchasing her own tricycle for use in transporting the vegetables to more towns and markets. She also wants to keep her youngest daughter in school so she has a brighter future.

Now it’s your turn to buy a patch on the Global Opportunity Quilt and declare your commitment to help create a world without poverty. Spread the word by passing on your gift card to a friend or colleague so they can help fund a loan to an entrepreneur at OptINnow.org. My hope is that together we will be able to help many more people work their way out of poverty and feed their families.