Celebrating What Matters

My son Tristan came home a few days ago with some notes shared by his classmates. His teacher routinely chooses one of the kids and asks the rest to write something nice about them, which the selected student gets to take home and read. Tris read his notes to us, sharing that his classmates think he’s hilarious. (They seem especially amused by his love of ‘80s music.) But the best comments were from kids in his math class. “You’re very helpful with math,” several of them said. Many thanked him for his help with their work.

I love that kids at school enjoy his quirky personality as much as we do, but I was even more pleased to hear that he’s a helper. The other frequent comment—that he “always has a smile on his face”—makes me suspect that he’s learned the secret about helping other people. Sure, it’s nice and kind to help, but the best part about helping other people is that you get to celebrate with them. When they accomplish great things, you’re right there with them, giving them a high five. (I can totally see Tristan doing that, and it makes me smile.)

While I won’t be helping anyone with math anytime soon, I do know a little something about helping and celebrating. It’s a privilege to be invited to help with your gifts and favors, and while I know I’m not literally there at your event, I’m thinking of you on your big day and giving you a (virtual) high five. Actually, I’d say it’s more like an actual happy dance. (Aren’t you glad I stay home?!) At any rate, I’m celebrating with you.

Rasela, store owner from Vaimea, Samoa

Now I’d like to invite you to celebrate something with me. Your support has allowed me to help people through donations to Kiva, but I don’t think I’ve properly thanked you for making these donations possible. We’ve made 70 donations in the past 6 years, lending (and re-lending) a total of $1,800. (You can read more about our donations.) We’ve helped people like Rasela in Samoa, who needed a new sewing machine, paint brushes, and other supplies to continue designing and creating clothing for her shop. Rasela is a mom of three who uses her profits to support her family. In fact, did you know that the majority of women who borrow through Kiva use their loans to support their children and communities? That’s a pretty exciting thing to celebrate, don’t you think?

It’s about to get a lot more exciting because this year, we’re committed to sharing 10% of our profits with Kiva. We’ll be supporting women entrepreneurs in many countries (31 so far) and funding educational opportunities for young people, too. That’s a whole lotta celebrating, a bunch of high fives, and a ton of happy dancing. And none of this would be possible without you. We’re celebrating what matters here, you and me together; all the important stuff from births to birthdays and weddings to graduations. Thank you so much for helping.

You can read more about our recent donations below, and keep an eye out for our monthly updates. I’ve also started posting event updates and good wishes on Instagram with the hashtag #celebratingwhatmatters, so if you want to join the celebration, please follow me on Instagram. Or let me know your username so I can tag you. (I pinky swear that I will not post pictures of the happy dancing.)

Join us in celebrating:

Nine entrepreneurial women in Guatamala make up the Friendship Bridge Trust Bank “Manzaneras.” Involved in traditional textile production, their goal is to help support the needs of their families.

The Villa Conavi Group in Santaní, Paraguay includes members like Mirian, who runs a store in her home. She is working to grow the store to help her family, and will use this loan to invest in goods to increase sales.

The San Carlos Group in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay is a new group working to improve their members’ quality of life. One of the group’s members, Ramona, is enthusiastic about her training and will use her portion of this loan to buy cosmetics to sell.

The Señor De Torrechayoc De Quellouno Group in Cusco, Peru, includes members who farm, sell produce, groceries, and animals, and run restaurants. A portion of this loan provides seeds and fertilizer to Segundina, who grows bananas, mandarins, and other crops and sells fruit for a living.