Blog Action Day 2008: Inspiration

Friday, 06. 27. 2008  –  Category: past announcements

[originally posted 10/15/08]

“Inspiration, move me brightly.” (Grateful Dead)

If you have been a Lend4Health’er since the beginning (June 2008) or have actually read all the text on this site, you know that my inspiration for Lend4Health was KIVA, the world’s first microlending website.

On KIVA, your loan goes to a business owner/entrepreneur in another country. Maybe he/she needs a couple hundred dollars to buy seeds to increase the crop. Maybe he/she needs $1,000 to expand the store. Whatever it is, you make a $25 loan via PayPal, and the entrepreneur pays you back over time. You then can re-loan your money to another person. Basically, your little $25 loan is making a HUGE impact in another person’s life — potentially lifting him/her out of poverty forever.

Simple. Powerful. Inspiring!!!

Here is Celine, to whom I made a $25 loan on KIVA in June 2007 (before I knew anything about autism). I feel a connection to Celine, and I get happy every time I see she has made a repayment because I believe my little $25 has helped her out. I hope that you feel the same way when you make a loan on Lend4Health!

I encourage you to become a lender on KIVA too. Who says you can’t make a loan on Lend4Health and another on KIVA? We are not competitors; we are both working to improve the world one person at a time, with small actions bringing huge impacts.

Thank you, Matt & Jessica Flannery (KIVA co-founders), for your vision, your brilliance, your persistence, and your inspiration!!!