for carol's staff support newsletter

I went to Urbana 06 as a junior just entering my business major. In the Business as Missions track, I learned about this thing called "microfinance", which provides financial services to low-income populations so that they can pursue entrepreneurship and work their way out of poverty. I was floored! This was the first time I saw business acumen, social justice, and Jesus combined; three of my passions co-existing. The more I researched, the more I found that this was a sustainable, established business segment, but very few students had even heard about it. For my last semester at Cal I simply wanted to share the concept of microfinance with undergrads (and as a 6-unit senior, I knew I'd have way too much time on my hands!). Facilitating a class on my own worried me, but I found an unexpected wave of support from Intervarsity. Staff encouraged and prayed with me, and an alum connected me with nearly all of the speakers I booked for the course. This semester is almost over and I'm happy to say several students are interested in continuing this course next fall! I'm not exactly sure how God has or will use this class. But 57 undergraduates are walking away knowing more about poverty, and more importantly, that there is something that can be done about it.