MG2010 Final Four: endPoverty.org

Thanks to all of you wonderful and generous donors out there, endPoverty.org made the Final Four! Please help us complete our Cinderella run through the tournament and win the $10,000 grand prize so we can help equip hundreds of more poor families in places like India, Uganda, Mexico, Cameroon and the Philippines start small businesses and lift themselves, their families and communities out of poverty!

The staff team at endPoverty.org loves Cinderella stories. We take great joy in watching the long shots and the underdogs succeed, and that theme couldn't hold any truer than with our loan clients around the world.

Annowara Bibi (featured in the YouTube video above) of Calcutta, India is one of those Cinderellas. We met her at the lowest point in her life, when she and her husband couldn't earn enough money to feed their four children, much less send them to school. Imagine having to choose which of your kids gets to eat on a daily basis.

Our local partner stepped in, but instead of giving her a one-time handout or a bag of rice, we offered her a tiny loan, which she used to purchase a young goat. She used the goat's milk to both feed her family and sell in the local market. After eight months she was also able to sell the goat for a nice profit and pay back her loan. Along the way, she also received valuable business training from endPoverty staff and joined one of our community support groups.

Today, Annowara runs a successful goat milk and goat husbandry business. She's able to provide both meals and medical care for her entire family through her income and all her children are enrolled in school.

Since our inception in 1985, endPoverty.org has directly helped more than 200,000 poor entrepreneurs start their own businesses and provide for their families with dignity. We work through and are closely partnered with a network of locally-led microfinance and development institutions in twelve countries all over the world.

Each year, endPoverty.org empowers literally thousands of "Each year, endPoverty.org empowers literally thousands of "Each year, endPoverty.org empowers literally thousands of "Each year, endPoverty.org empowers literally thousands of "Cinderella" families like Annowara's all over the world. Will you join us this March as a Poverty Ender?