In this issue, gratitude is my mantra. Current events make me even more grateful for what we have at WCCN.
Today, I feel like we are struggling in our own country to define and support the investment in, and importance of, women, minorities, their healthcare, education, and the opportunities for them to participate meaningfully in their own society. I do not see that same struggle within the WCCN community and network of partners and supporters. For us, the vision and path of what we must do to include all persons in the economic and social fiber of society is rather clear. And, it is nothing short of reassuring to find the WCCN community unified today in that vision of tomorrow, of what can be, if we act and invest our time, effort and resources to make it so.
For example, it is partners like Pro Mujer International, the first all women’s microfinance + healthcare operator globally and in the Americas, that showed us the way to what is possible, when we invest in some of the poorest women. Not only are Pro Mujer women breaking the vicious cycle of poverty in their families, they are job creators for other women. Women like Pilar Amaro. Read Pilar’s story and know that you are making a difference in her life today with your support to WCCN.
You will also learn about one of our investors, Skees Family Foundation. The Skees family took their experience of meeting WCCN micro-borrower Mayra Gámez from Nicaragua and re-told her story in California to the Sisters Shares women’s network of Santa Cruz. Mayra’s story of courage, perseverance and her overcoming adversity, when given an opportunity supported by WCCN, made many of the Santa Cruz women realize that we could all be Mayra. But then again, we could all be the person who helped Mayra change her life today. Sisters of Santa Cruz stepped up to do just that, by making a gift to benefit women like Mayra. WCCN is helping the Sisters touch the lives of many women with that gift in 2017.
The women in this issue all made change for other women a priority in their lives, and each of them let WCCN play a role in that effort. I am very mindful of what we have at WCCN. Grateful, that’s my mantra for this issue.
Sincerely,
Nancy Metzger
Executive Director
