Making a Difference with Micro Enterprise!!

The third FUN ED client we visited was Bernardner (in turquois top). She and her sister (left) both took loans to each open a Pulperia (neighborhood convenience store). This store is in the front room of her home. Pictured are four of her eight children. With the loan, she purchased a freezer, refrigerator, shelving and inventory. The third picture is the one bedroom with mattresses for she and her children. The

fourth picture is of the wood burning stove in her kitchen where she makes tortillas for sale in the store. She is renting her current home. The last picture is the larger home across the street. She has an option to purchase it and has applied to FUN ED for a loan which the loan officer later told us is likely to be approved based on her success with her business and repayment of the first loan. Like the other women, her husband lives and works in the US. He returns to Honduras periodically although she has not
seen him in nearly a year making her essentially a single parent to eight children.

With the ability to purchase her new home, FUN ED will have made Benardner's dreams a reality!!

The purpose of our visit to FUN ED is to determine how St. Michael might participate in making microenterprise loans available in areas of Honduras where it is active in its mission work. Saint Michael was introduced to FUN ED by Bill Bancroft, a parishioner and mission leader from The Church of The Incarnation who accompanied our mission team and drove us to Morazon, about 2 ½ hours from Tela, to meet with the FUN ED officials at the local office there.

On behalf of Incarnation, Bill did an exhaustive search of various microenterprise organizations serving Honduras before selecting FUN ED. Over a year ago, Incarnation made a $50,000 loan to FUN ED which in turn has resulted in 89 business loans to FUN ED clients in areas served by Incarnation’s Honduras mission program.