Godfrey is a microcredit client of Jamii Bora Bank, a Whole Planet Foundation (WPF) partner in the Nyeri region of Kenya where Whole Foods Market (WFM) sources coffee through Allegro. Godfrey is a farmer whose first loan was the equivalent of $129 which he used to buy manure and his first cow. His second loan was $258 and he used it to buy another cow. Godfrey has had his farm for 24 years and grew up seeing his parents grow crops, so he has a good yield of coffee, kale, sweet potatoes, arrowroot, macadamia nuts, watermelon and mangos. He is a hard worker who provides for his wife, young daughter and his mother. Instead of buying a water pump for irrigation he dug 144 feet over 6 months to create a water well for the farm. When we met Godfrey in April he told us “I feel like praising, praising, and praising Jamii Bora because of what they have done!” Godfrey explained that microcredit has enabled him to diversify his farm for continued income and food for his family. Jamii Bora means "better families" in Swahili, a goal you can see represented in how Jamii Bora Bank provides microcredit to eligible men (9% of our overall client base) as well as women (91% of WPF supported clients). See more entrepreneurs.

The WPF project in Uganda will enable BRAC, the largest NGO in the world, to open a new microlending branch in Mbale, Uganda, where WFM procures coffee. BRAC’s Uganda Empowerment and Livelihoods for Adolescent (ELA) Program was launched in 2009. After less than 2 years, it now has 680,000 participating youths and 430,000 youth borrowers. BRAC’s Uganda began operations in 2006 and now has more than 103,000 microfinance clients. It touches the lives of more than 1.8 million people in Uganda. With WPF's grant of $500,000, the project anticipates reaching 8,000 new clients (100% ELA members, girls who must be 16 to be eligible to receive a loan) by the end of 2010.

WPF plans to double outreach with microlending projects in Africa (Cameroon, Ghana, Malawi, Morroco, Rwanda, Togo, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia), Asia (Afghanistan and China), and Latin America (El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay), among others. Two field-based Program Managers will facilitate this expansion. Brian Doe will be based in Dakar, Senegal and responsible for Africa projects. WPF's own Lead Financial Analyst and Compliance Officer Evan Lambert will be starting his new position as Program Manager for Latin America in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Through register donations, WFM customers and team members raised $2.2 million to support microcredit clients like Almaz in Ethiopia during the 2010 Annual Prosperity Campaign. Your generosity will fund more than 12,200 microloans, supporting over 61,300 people to change their own lives. We appreciate everyone for this generosity, especially the community of the WFM P Street store in Washington, D.C. who for the second consecutive year donated the most with a tremendous total of $101,652. Thank you! We are grateful to all the cashiers, marketing team members, facilities and suppliers who educate shoppers about WPF, including the top cashiers who won a trip to visit our project in Peru this year!

15,000 WFM Team Members, 27% of the company, have donated over $1.5 million to empower women to change their own lives, and the lives of their families, through microcredit. As WFM team member Katherine in North Carolina says: “I give a full micro loan per year (currently an average of $175 in the developing world) because I have seen poverty all over the world first hand and this sort of support allows individuals to create a way to get out of the cycle of poverty in practical, functional ways with dignity. It’s not a hand out and creates a circular system that works for the whole community, not just one person. The money I give will not only help one person but will help many because when they pay the loan back it gets used again and again and again. It’s a way of giving that keeps giving. ” Join us and together we can change the world.

In Kenya, this dish is called sukuma wiki, named after the dark, leafy greens from which it's made. The name translates roughly to "push the week," implying the ingredient's stellar ability to stretch meals, making them last to the end of the week. Throughout the country, the popular dish is eaten without utensils, with chapati (a variety of flatbread) or ugali (a type of cornmeal mush) used to scoop up bites instead. This recipe was inspired by featured microcredit client Godfrey.

WFM covers all WPF operating costs, as audited by Maxwell Locke & Ritter LLP. See our 2009 Annual Report.