Read all About it! Esperanza en Acción Newsline
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 - $600 was lent to Expoventa, a stone carvers cooperative from the North of Nicaragua from Esperanza en Accion's small loan fund. This is our largest loan yet and will allow them to purchase materials to continue selling their pieces.
- Representatives from all 25 artisan groups will attend a training on product promotion and quality control in February, we look forward to updating you on the outcome!
- The Ducuale Grande cooperative has just finished a large order for Partners for Just Trade, be sure to check out their new stock soon! www.partnersforjusttrade.org
- January was a great month for our Fair Trade Store and Education Center in Nicaragua. We saw the biggest sales in one month in all of our history! That means we are purchasing lots of fair trade work from the artisans currently, and helping to support their businesses.
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| Program Feature: The Importance of Saving |
How it Works
Each artisan group that chooses to participate will receive a simple wooden box with a slot in the  top to begin their savings and Esperanza en Accion will help them to define the following:
- The Goal: What is most needed? What will the savings go towards?
- The Total: How much is needed to reach the goal?
- The Plan: How will the group reach their savings goal and in what timeframe?
Artisan groups that have never had any savings will now be creating goals for their own savings plan based on their own needs and learning to be responsible for meeting those goals. This program will help artisans to increase stability in their businesses by ensuring that they are saving for what they most need.
How YOU can Help
As an incentive to each artisan group Esperanza en Accion is offering to match artisans' savings up to $150 per group. This will not only help to increase artisans' savings, it will also provide an incentive to save in the first year of this program. |
Donor Spotlight:
Okemos Community Church
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 Okemos Community Church (OCC) in Okemos Michigan, has been a vital source of support for Esperanza en Acción since 2005. The members of OCC have provided monetary donations, in-kind donations, hours and hours of volunteer time, warehouse space and much more!
Jan Easley, member of OCC shared with us her experience of why they got involved with Esperanza en Acción:
"I and several folks at my church began working with Esperanza en Acción...We didn't know what we were doing, we didn't know how to do it, and we had no where in which to do it. But we also knew what we were doing was important. We knew first hand the transformation that happens whem men and women are paid fairly for their work." (To read the entire story click here)
In addition to contributions from individuals OCC includes Esperanza en Accion in their missions budget and pledges a quarterly contribution to ensure we can continue our work. We would not have come as far as we have without the help of Okemos Community Church.
Lend a helping hand to Esperanza en Acción by encouraging your faith community to get involved in supporting the work of empowering Nicaraguan artisans and their families.
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