Once again Evoke has introduced me to a new way to do some good in the world. I just used Kiva.org to make a $50 loan to Arshak Harutyunyan (see picture below), who hails from Ijevan, Armenia. I learned about micro-lending when I was in college, but I didn't know until today that I could lend money online. It is very gratifying to know that my $50 loan was the final piece of funding that Mr. Harutyunyan needed to move his farm animals to the mountains and rent a plot of land. One of the great things about Kiva (
http://www.kiva.org) is that one donation can be a gift that keeps on giving, because the loan can be repaid and then used to fund another project. This idea might even work on a local level in my hometown of Buffalo, NY. The website that I am working on, ReBuffalo.org
(http://bit.ly/cEepOW), will be designed to allow people to collaborate online to solve urban problems. Two of the the biggest problems that Buffalo is facing are the interrelated issues of poverty and unemployment. Perhaps micro-lending could be facilitated through ReBuffalo.org and directed toward locals who want to start small businesses. I'm not sure how this would work, but I'm adding it to my list of options for ReBuffalo.org. Thanks Evoke and Kiva!
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