Investor Profile: Doug and Carol Wingeier

 

Doug and Carol Wingeier

“My wife Carol and I became interested in Nicaragua in 1989 when our son Philip was a United Methodist mission intern there.  When we visited him we met Carter Garber, also a missionary, who introduced us to the concept of microcredit, which he was then implementing through CEPAD.  He told us about WCCN and we contacted you when we returned.

We wanted to assist the revolution and the people of Nicaragua any way we could, so we: (1) joined the Nicaragua Solidarity Committee in Chicago where we were then living and volunteered with them; (2) returned to Nicaragua with funds and volunteers to help build a school in Barrio Batahola Sur; and (3) contacted WCCN and made our initial investment.

We have returned to Nicaragua several times since, once with a WCCN study tour and once this past March to revisit the school we had helped build.  On the WCCN trip I was impressed with the borrowers we met and what good use they were making of the loans—how it helped them get on their feet, start a business, gain self-respect, provide for their families, and employ others.  Microcredit was a good way of helping people help themselves.  So, through the years we have added to our initial investment in order to multiply these results and serve more and more people, thereby strengthening the base of the revolution.”