Cindy Berman, 18, of Rancho Santa Fe, California, was touched by the poverty of women in Guatemala, like Francisca Ortiz. Supporting four children on less than $2 a day, the young, frail mother couldn’t provide food for her family, much less health care or education. Cindy decided to do something about it—in a unique way. While a junior at La Jolla Country Day School, she introduced students to an online viral fundraising strategy, focusing on microloans. “I admire the power of microloans because they are very small loans, typically $50 to $100,” Cindy says. “Yet, instead of being temporary support ‘band-aids,’ they promote the development of businesses to provide a substantial income for individuals, such as Francisca, and break the cycle of poverty.” After gaining the support of school administration, Cindy formed a partnership between La Jolla Country Day School and Project Concern International <projectconcern.org> (a non-profit health and humanitarian aid organization), creating the microloan project, Amigos Para Siempre (Friends for Life) <pci.kintera.org/amigos>.

As a result of her ongoing dedication and commitment to helping Guatemalan women and their families out of poverty, Cindy is the 2007-2008 Soroptimist Violet Richardson Award winner, which honors young girls, ages 14-17, who work to make the world a better place. Nominated by SI/La Jolla for her exceptional volunteer efforts, she received $500 for herself and $250 for her organization at the club level, and was honored with $500 for herself and $500 for her organization from the Desert Coast Region. In addition, SIA awarded her $2,500 for Amigos Para Siempre as federation finalist.

Cindy came on board with Project Concern when she learned that the organization had to stop providing loans to Guatemalan women due to a shortage of funds. The organization had already proven the success of its microloan and training program with 1,300 women coffee growers in Olopa, Guatemala. With an astounding 100 percent repayment rate on their loans, the women were so successful that buyers from Honduras started to purchase coffee from Olopa. “So, because of the immense poverty in Guatemala, I decided to develop the Amigos Para Siempre campaign to continue to give these women adequate economic opportunity,” Cindy says. “In that area, 75,000 children are undernourished and 37 percent of women are illiterate.”

Devoting numerous hours to developing an online fundraising website for Amigos Para Siempre, Cindy eventually launched the microloan fundraising site, showing students at her school the effectiveness of online fundraising. “I taught students how to develop their own fundraising websites and send out e-mails
linking back to their sites.”

Getting started is easy, Cindy adds. Visitors to the website can create a personal web page in support of Amigos Para Siempre and then conduct their own online campaign to spread awareness among friends and family. In addition, she also has organized traditional offline fundraisers, such as bake sales. To date, Cindy’s project has raised almost $9,000. Education is also part of Cindy’s work, speaking to students, teachers and the community about Amigos Para Siempre. In one instance, she demonstrated the process of microloans by giving Monopoly money to 5th and 6th graders. “I told students with this money they could start a business in a Third World country. Then, they passed the money to other students, giving them a similar opportunity,” she says. “After hearing my presentations, two 11-year-old girls dropped off a jar with $14.35 for microloans, and a few weeks later, gave an additional $55.” Cindy is especially grateful that Amigos Para Siempre continues to give women economic opportunities—women like Maria Perez, a Guatemalan coffee grower. With a microloan from money raised through the program, she bought fertilizer for her crops and received agricultural training. “She reaped a successful harvest and sold her crops for a fair price,” Cindy says. “After paying back her loan, she had enough money to buy a sewing machine. Now, she makes dresses for her community and earns enough money to sufficiently support her children with education, health care and food.”

Even though she recently graduated and is now a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, majoring in international relations, Cindy plans for the project to continue and grow. “They have a microfinance club at Penn and I’m a part of it so the project can continue,” she says. “I’ve always been extremely interested in helping others, and I like the idea of microfinance because you are giving people the ability to start their own businesses and be in control of their lives.”