2011 Annual Meeting

Irma Lopez of La Fem and Juana Villareyna

Photo by Michael Kienitz

Magda Edy López, of COMIXMUL

Photo by Michael Kienitz

By Jeanne Duffy, WCCN Development & Marketing Director

Our 2011 annual meeting was a great success. The evening allowed WCCN supporters to connect, share a home-cooked Nicaraguan meal and learn about our work in Latin America.

We honored the 22 original investors in WCCN’s loan fund. They invested 20 years ago and still invest today. Sheldon Rampton, the first loan fund manager, and Sue Lloyd, an original investor, spoke about the early years, the excitement of starting the fund and the obstacles overcome to make it a success.

To share the original investors’ dedication to WCCN and economic and social justice, we compiled their personal testimonies into a booklet entitled “20 years of socially responsible investing — in their own words.” Their motivations fascinate and inspire us.  We are providing Doug and Carol Wingeier’s testimony in this newsletter, sharing additional testimonies in subsequent newsletters and offering all now through a link on the WCCN website home page, www.capitalforcommunities.org.

Also, speakers from two partner agencies told us how, with WCCN’s help, they are empowering women through access to land and credit. Representing La Fem of Nicaragua, Juana Villareyna and Irma Lopez explained how WCCN donors helped women purchase their own land, and they discussed the connection between economic independence and land ownership for rural Nicaraguan women. Juana speaks about the importance of land in a short video filmed in Nicaragua and posted at www.capitalforcommunities.org.

Magda Edy López, representing COMIXMUL of Honduras, spoke next at the meeting.   COMIXMUL began in 1986 with 12 women organized as a solidarity-lending group.  They now serve more than 19,000 women with a loan portfolio of $18 million.  With the $600,000 WCCN loan, COMIXMUL can help 600 more women start or expand businesses.

Thank you to our sponsors who made the evening such a great success:

Dan & Linda Anderson, Marc Becker, Cordelia Fiero, Daniel & Margaret P. Geisler, Gregg & Ursula Johnson, Jane H. & Vince Kavaloski, George & Marjorie J. Manglitz, Marjon Ornstein, Walter & Karen Pridham, David & Corinne Scott, Kathleen Taylor, Eunice Wagner, and Ingrid Watson.