2nd Annual Halloween Loan-A-Thon

Our Halloween Loan-A-Thon has already started, so come and join the fun. This is our 2nd Annual Halloween Loan-A-Thon and and since last years Halloween Loan-A-Thon was our first ever Loan-A-Thon (suggested by team member Shaun/Chelsea) it makes celebrating this one extra special.

During Loan-A-Thons our members try to stretch themselves a bit beyond what they would normally loan and add some new money into the Kiva system. We cheer each other on and join in on the lively discussions on our team board.

For this Loan-A-Thon we are also engaging in another good deed for Kiva. We are participating in the America's Giving Challenge on Facebook. Read some background information on this challenge from Kiva.

Challenge Details:
WHEN: Halloween Loan-A-Thon [between 3pm October 31st and 3pm November 1st EASTERN time]
WHO: Our team members and Loan-A-Thon participants
WHAT: Donate $10 to Kiva using thru Facebook Causes:
https://www.causes.com/fb/donations/new?cause_id=559
WHY: Help Kiva win a daily prize and help give a big boost to the Overall challenge and help Kiva win $50,000.


By Peter

PRESS RELEASE: Atheists Lead The Movement To End Poverty

I have written a press release to announce our team's accomplishment of lending $1 million:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: your name here
Tel: your telephone # here
Email: your email here

Atheists Lead The Movement To End Poverty

In just over one year the community of Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious (AASFSHNR) at Kiva.org have raised $1 million (USD) in interest-free loans to help end poverty. Kiva.org is a US non-profit organization that connects lenders with borrowers, from around the globe, who need a micro-finance loan. Peter Kroll, the AASFSHNR community team leader, created the community on August 28th, 2008 with the ambition to organize those who share his world view that "people should care about reducing the suffering of other human beings because we acknowledge the evolutionary fact that we are all one human family."

Kiva's co-founder Matt Flannery has put out his call that "now is a time for the world's privileged to demonstrate to the world's poor just how compassionate and resilient we are." The AASFSHNR community has responded, as well as many other communities and individuals. More than four years after Kiva's founding almost $100 million has been lent worldwide.

Micro-finance is the brain-child of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mohammad Yunus. Yunus realized decades ago, on a visit to a poor village in his country of Bangladesh, that the local people were caught in an endless cycle of debt caused by loan-sharks. He realized what a difference it would make by "removing the barriers faced by the poor so that they can unleash their creativity and intelligence in the service of humanity."

I would like to recruit volunteers from each major city to email or fax the press release above with your personal contact information to your local newspaper or tv outlet. I've received advice that it's good to have a local representative as most news stories are told with a local angle.

Remember, if the media contacts you, you are representing our team so stay positive and be friendly. Talk about the need to make positive change in the world, our teams friendly competitions, our constant goal setting and breaking, our fun loan-a-thons and the sense of community feeling you get from being a part of the team.

Spread the word.... feel free to send letters to the editors, email blogs and tell friends. Anyway to let the world know.

Cheers,
Pete
Team Captain

Kiva Atheists first to reach $1 million

On October 7th 2009 around noon PST our team of Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious surpassed our year-end goal of lending one million dollars (USD)!



Congratulations to all team members new and old. We have now officially built a community hub for secular people on the Internet. By the time this year ends we'll have blown past our goal and 2010 will likely see a flood of new team members as our almost 6000 members spread the word amongst the larger online secular community.

Kiva posted their congratulations on the Kiva blog and Premal Shah, Kiva's President, stopped by our team message board with these words of congratulations:

Hi Everyone -

Someone just sent an email to Kiva's office about this team hitting the $1M milestone. On behalf of Kiva's staff, CONGRATULATIONS and THANKS for being such an amazing community of lenders. We're inspired!

- Premal

Premal Shah
President
Kiva.org

Time to spread the word... Heather from our team has created a press release:

A Million Dollars of Micro Finance

One million dollars is a lot of money, especially for entrepreneurs around the world turning to microfinance institutions for loans. One million is the amount lent to these entrepreneurs by the team Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious (AASFSHNR) at Kiva.org. Through Kiva, anyone can lend $25 or more to an entrepreneur looking for assistance. When a borrower repays, the money becomes available to re-lend.

AASFSHNR, just over 1 year old, is the first group to reach $1,000,000. Despite the modest goal of $50k in four months, 10 days after creation AASFSHNR hit $10,000. As the loans were paid back, or new money was lent, the group total climbed faster and faster.

AASFSHNR is a fantastic example of the generosity of atheists and others who fit into the group’s theme. We don’t always agree when posting on the team forum, but we do work hard to fund loans. In addition to our group’s milestone, Kiva is fast approaching an even more impressive moment. Collectively, Kiva lenders have lent nearly $100 million around the world. I invite everyone to Kiva. While you are at it, you’re welcome to visit us heathens.

Heather (check the team message board for her contact info or send her a private message on Kiva.org).

Hilton from our team posted about our milestone to his blog.

Exciting times....

Cheers,
Pete
Team Captain