Determination in Bangladesh

Recently in the news there was an article about women in Bangladesh making a change.

“Amidst despair and poverty, women in some remote villages of Bangladesh are raising money and lending it to each other through a unique microfinance programme launched by a local non-government organisation.”

This is one amazing story of people who are trying to make a change in their lives and the lives of others.

“We don’t have any defaulters,” said a proud and confident Padabi Rani Das. “If a member fails, we all fail. We don’t let anyone fail as we have a system of helping members overcome their difficulties”

Just one of the many inspiring statements that provide proof of the motivation that these individuals carry. Not wanting to fail causes them to work even harder.

Mentors International applauds this group of women and the organization assisting them. They represent the determination that we look for in all of our clients. Those who truly wish to escape poverty just need a ‘hand up’, and they receive that through YOU – your involvement, your donations, & your support to Mentors International, who then issues the microloan & mentoring that can change these people’s lives.

So, are you ready to be a part of changing somebody’s stars?

Get Involved. Today.

5K: Race to Relieve Poverty

MAKE SURE YOUR CALENDARS ARE MARKED FOR OUR 

Race to Relieve Poverty 5K on

Saturday, September 17th, 2011!

Come to Liberty Park in Salt Lake City, UT.

Registration is $25,

& proceeds go toward lifting our impoverished friends out of poverty.

To register click here.

Pre-race packet pick up is at 11:00 AM.

Race BEGINS at 11:30 AM.

After-Party at Chili’s Restaurant in SLC at 1:00 PM.

PRIZES, DRAWINGS, MUSIC, FREE STUFF, & best of all…

IT’S FOR A GOOD CAUSE!

For more information about the race click here.

Or you can check out our Facebook 5K page here.

We HOPE to see YOU there!

Park City: Silly Sunday Market

This last Sunday, Mentors had the opportunity to put up a booth at the Park Silly Sunday Market in Park City, Utah.

The Park Silly Sunday Market is an outdoor festival that runs from June to September each summer & always draws an impressive crowd. Vendors, artisans, and musicians from all over bring their goods to display and sell. The market also features nonprofit organizations , which is where WE come in!

The event was a big hit, and TONS of fun!

Mentors sold hand-made merchandise from our clients in Guatemala, Peru and the Philippines.

We also had a prize drawing for a Cafe Rio gift card and two movie tickets!

We would like to thank everyone who stopped by Mentors booth & entered our drawing!

The Lucky Winners are…

JENNIFER TAYLOR &

TAWNYA RAY!

Congratulations Jennifer & Tawnya!

If you didn’t get a chance to learn about Mentors at the Park Silly Market, please visit our website to learn more about what YOU can do to help us in the fight against poverty!

Inspire Someone…

“One word expresses the pathway to greatness: voice.

Those on this path find their voice and inspire others to find theirs. The rest never do.”

Each of us have someone that we look up to. These inspiring individuals are the ones who help us recognize our full potential.

We admire them because they have chosen the “path of greatness”. They have found their voice and have inspired others to find theirs. They have become mentors to those around them.

Mentoring is a way to influence another person. To mentor is to be a wise and trusted advisor, counselor, and trusted friend. Mentoring is a way to inspire someone through teaching.

At Mentors International, we believe that MENTORING is a key part of the equation in fulfilling our mission, which is to give a “Hand Up not a HandOut“.

We want our clients to have the dignity of becoming self-reliant.

This is what makes us different; each client has a mentor who guides them through the beginnings of starting a business. Our clients all have a talent that drives their passion, and part of our mentoring process is unlocking that talent to help them become inspired businessmen and women.

We want to inspire entrepreneurs to become successful and self-reliant.

We want them to be able to survive and to live a happy, healthy life.

This is our mission.

You can inspire someone too.

Who is someone in your life that has inspired your success?

Poverty: Inability to Move Forward

“Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being, and comprises many dimensions. It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity. Poverty also encompasses low levels of health and education, poor access to clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one’s life.”

This definition was given by the World Bank.

Imagine for a moment, you are playing in the ocean and you are swept up by the waves.  Despite your greatest efforts to swim back to shore, the undercurrent and the waves above you make it impossible for you to do so.  You are stuck, and the current continues to push you out, farther and farther into the ocean.

This is what it is like to be in poverty. Despite their greatest efforts, the impoverished are stuck.

Their situation makes it impossible for them to progress.

The poor in developing countries are trapped.

They lack education, good nutrition, and a safe place to raise their families. They cope with harsh social, economic, and environmental hardships.

Now imagine yourself in that helpless state in the middle of the ocean, and suddenly you see a boat. As the boat gets closer, you are thrown a lifesaver and taken back to shore. You are safe again.

Mentors International is like that boat. We give people who are living in poverty a hand-up (lifesaver) so they can make a better life for themselves.

You can be a lifesaver too! Donate to Mentors International today!

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt helpless?

Who was your lifesaver?

Race to Relieve Poverty 5K with Mentors International

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Mentors International is inviting YOU to our

Race to Relieve Poverty 5K with Mentors International.

Saturday, September 17th, 2011

Registration is $25.

To register click here.

Pre-race packet pick up is at 11:00 AM.

Gun goes off at 11:30 AM.

After-Party at Chili’s Restaurant in SLC at 1:00 PM.

Race Location: Liberty Park – South Entrance – Salt Lake City, UT.

Prizes, Drawings, Music, Free Stuff, & best of all…

IT’S FOR A GOOD CAUSE!

For more information about the race click here.

We are EXCITED to see YOU there!

Mentors International in the Deseret News

Mentors International was mentioned in an article written in the Deseret News on Saturday, July 9th,

“LDS Church Helps as Guatemalans Bring Water, Education to Their Village“,

“The San Mateo Foundation of Colorado agreed to pay for a new school if the people of Seamay would build it. Mentors International, a Utah-based microcredit agency, sent loan officers to help villagers start new businesses, like chicken farms, which required those with savings to invest what they could.”

Mentors International is lucky to be involved in so many lives in Guatemala, especially in Seamay.

In Guatemala we are working to build better and more successful businesses.

To find out more about Mentors go to our website

http://www.mentorsinternational.org

Get involved TODAY!

We Can Make History: Michelle Obama

CNN reported First Lady Michelle Obama’s visit to Africa, Mrs. Obama encouraged over 2,000 people to continue the push to eliminate hunger, disease, and poverty.

Michelle Obama speaks at Regina Mundi Church and addresses the Young African Women Leaders Forum in a Soweto township, Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, June 22, 2011.

“But while today’s challenges might not always inspire the lofty rhetoric or the high drama of struggles past, the injustices at hand are no less glaring, the human suffering no less acute.

So make no mistake about it: There are still so many causes worth sacrificing for. There is still so much history yet to be made. You can be the generation that makes the discoveries and builds the industries that will transform our economies. You can be the generation that brings opportunity and prosperity to forgotten corners of the world and banishes hunger from this continent forever. You can be the generation that ends HIV/AIDS in our time, the generation that fights not just the disease, but the stigma of the disease, the generation that teaches the world that HIV is fully preventable, and treatable, and should never be a source of shame.

You can be the generation that holds your leaders accountable for open, honest government at every level, government that stamps out corruption and protects the rights of every citizen to speak freely, to worship openly, to love whomever they choose.

You can be the generation to ensure that women are no longer second-class citizens, that girls take their rightful places in our schools.

You can be the generation that stands up and says that violence against women in any form, in any place, including the home –- especially the home –- that isn’t just a women’s rights violation. It’s a human rights violation. And it has no place in any society.

You see, that is the history that your generation can make.”

The history we make can be anything – BIG or small.

It only takes ONE person to inspire a change that spreads like wildfire.

Donate today to Mentors International.

Mentors International gives the opportunity to so many to succeed. $60 can give a family a hand-up and help them turn their lives around. There are so many things we can do to make an incredible difference – things that are simple, empowering, and revolutionary.

So, how are YOU going to make history?

Be Proactive!

“Your life doesn’t just “happen”. Whether you know it or not, it is carefully designed by you. The choices, after all, are yours. You choose happiness. You choose sadness. You choose decisiveness. You choose ambivalence. You choose success. You choose failure. You choose courage. You choose fear. Just remember that every moment, every situation, provides a new choice. And in doing so, it gives you a perfect opportunity to do things differently to produce more positive results.”

–Stephen R. Covey from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Positive Results can mean:

• Reaching out to someone in need
• Teaching another how to “fish”
• Seeing the success in another
• Eliminating poverty

Mentors International cares about being proactive. YOU can be proactive with us by:

• Donating,
• Becoming a Corporate Sponsor with your business or place of employment,
• Launching or Joining a Sponsorship Team,
• Attending Mentors International’s 21st Annual Gala on October 7th (tickets are now on sale!)
• Or you can join us on a one of our yearly expeditions.

Come and BE PROACTIVE with us!!

This next week how are YOU are going to become PROACTIVE?

Self-Reliance In Cebu

Making Dreams Come True in Cebu, Philippines

With five children to raise and take care of, Ricardo and Elnida Sasing needed to expand their production of wooden measuring instruments – rulers – in order to support their children. They were afraid to borrow money from the “loan sharks”, who charged very high interest rates and required daily payments. Luckily, with a small loan from Mentors International, Elnida and her family were able to buy raw materials from a lumber yard and increase their production of rulers. In turn, their net income dramatically increased by over 200%.

As Elnida reflected on their earlier struggles, she observed that it took only a 3,000 pesos (about $55) loan to begin a life of greater hope and opportunity. When their oldest child recently entered college, Elnida realized that one of her dreams was coming true —that her children would receive an education.

With the help from Mentors, Ricardo and Elnida were able to not only support their family, but were able to start a new generation of motivated and determined children.

$60 dollars can change a life, make dreams come true, feed the hungry, and eliminate poverty.

Be a part of the change.

to Mentors International.

What are some of your dreams? How will you make those come true?