Meet Noe

For many years Noe Antonio Cornejo worked long hours at a local coffee plantation making very little money. Life had been hard for Noe. He only had a ninth grade education and had lost an eye while serving in the army. Then, when his wife passed away, Noe was left with five children to feed.

Noe had long dreamed of becoming a baker and when he heard about Mentores, Mentors' partner organization in El Salvador, he felt this opportunity was the answer to his prayers. With some business training and a loan from Mentores he was able to make the metal molds to bake his first loaf of bread.

Five years later Noe is now the proud owner of Panes Los Ricos bakery. Every morning he wakes up at 3 a.m. to bake bread in an old rusty oven held together with a plastic bungy cord strap. After the bread is cooled on his metal molds his sons take the bread to the market to sell before school starts. Then Noe works long hours at a local coffee plantation. Although his conditions are far from perfect he is very grateful to Mentores for helping him help and his sons have a better life.

Noe now makes $160 in extra income.

“I have never been more blessed than now. My prayers have been answered. I love my sons very much and I believe this business has not only helped me but has given my children the opportunity to learn how to run their own business one day,” said Noe.

Happy New Year!

Enterprise Mentors International wishes you a happy new year! This has been a year for many changes at Mentors and our wonderful partner organizations. Thank you for being patient with us as we work to navigate a more profitable course for all of us—one that has the potential to bless millions of lives in the future. We can foresee the day when Enterprise Mentors will have large programs across the globe, and we are thrilled that you will be part of this groundbreaking effort to help so many of our Father’s children.

Thank you for all you have done and accomplished this year. Thanks for having such wonderful hearts. From our office to yours, we wish you a prosperous New Year. Please know that we continue to pray for you and all who are associated with this important work. May God bless you always.

Warmest regards,

Mark L. Petersen
Mentors President & CEO

Christmas Message From The President

As 2008 winds to its close and the Christmas Season approaches, it is an important time for us at Enterprise Mentors International to express gratitude for blessings received and to reflect on our accomplishments of the year.

I am grateful in every sense for the numerous families, businesses, and individuals who have invested sacred funds and valuable time for this amazing cause. I am energized by the enthusiasm and commitment of so many people. Thank you for reaching out to families across the world who have known the despair of poverty and have now been lifted to self sufficiency with your help.

Mentors has been working on alleviating poverty for 18 years. This year alone we have been able to lift more than 31,000 families from poverty with a hand up and not a hand out. Additionally, we hosted our most successful gala ever in November and celebrated our efforts with many of you, our dearest friends. We have also been working on laying a foundation for future growth this year, which has included the installation of sophisticated management information software in some of our partner organizations. We plan to complete installation of this system in all our partners in the coming year.

Because of some of these efforts we are seeing significant efficiencies in our partners. These economies are spurring new growth and savings. For instance, we have increased repayment of our loans this year to 96-percent. Moreover, many of our partners have experienced impressive growth in the numbers of clients served. Our partner in Manila, Philippines has grown from serving 12,000 clients in January 08 to nearly 20,000 clients in December. This growth will set the stage for us to serve tens of thousands of new clients in the near future.

It is our hope in the years ahead to enter new countries, expand our services to the poor, and to grow exponentially. With your continued support we can do it! Again, for those of you who have contributed this year – thank you! If you have not yet taken an opportunity to contribute, we urge you to do so. It will be the best gift you could give yourself as well as a family less fortunate.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours!

In deep gratitude,

Mark L. Petersen
President and CEO

Virgie Guma - A Client Success Story

For many years, 50-year-old Virgie Guma and family grew coconuts, coffee beans and bananas and earned a meager income of $100 per month. They could not afford the simple comforts of home and their children could not attend school. Then, Virgie joined Mentors in Davao and received her first loan of $60.


With the money from her first loan, Virgie planted turnip seeds which grew quickly. She now has 12,000 hills of turnips from which she earns $425 in sales income. They also grow mushrooms, gourds and even eggplants. With these investments, her average monthly income has increased to a minimum of $160 and the family can now live comfortably and were even able to buy a refrigerator. Virgie now prays for an abundant yield for their coconuts and coffee trees to give them substantial income to see their children through college. Joining Mentors Davao has truly lifted Virgie’s burdens and allowed her to become self-sufficient.

Mentors Just Joined Twitter! Do you tweet too?

Mentors is working hard this month to connect to social media. It just joined twitter. If you are on twitter, please add us on and/or tell us how we can better use it since it looks like Twitter has a bit of a learning curve. Happy Holidays!!

From Mentors to You...

From all of us here at Mentor's,

a very sincere THANK YOU for your efforts in

helping lift those in poverty, especially during

the holiday season. There are many things

to be thankful for and you are surely one.



THANK YOU AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Come with Mentors to the Philippines in February!

A Mentors Field Trip is truly an unforgettable experience wherein you can witness microcredit in action.

Our next trip, to the Philippines begins Friday, February 20, 2009 with a return date of Saturday, February 28. Group departure is from Salt Lake City so additional flight plans will need to be made in order to make sure that you are in Salt Lake by that Friday morning. We have an excellent travel agency in Salt Lake City (Christofferson Travel), who can arrange any special travel needs (e.g. mileage usage) and who have discovered excellent travel deals for us.

The approximate cost per person (Double Occupancy), will be $3,150, which will include airfare, hotel, meals and other ground accommodations. We can not give an exact airfare amount due to the cost changing daily (ie. Instant Purchase). However, the cost does not jump drastically within a given time frame. Please note: once airfare has been purchased, the tickets are non-refundable, non-transferable and non-changeable.

Per our travel agent, all airfare and lodging will be purchased simultaneously; therefore a $500 per person deposit is due by Monday, December 8, 2008 as an assurance that you are committed in joining us. Once all deposits are received, Mentors will then purchase the airfare and ground accommodations and will then notify you of the exact cost and balance due.

Please contact Mentors with your credit card number, expiration date, and authorization (from you) to make this deposit and the remaining purchases. We will also need the exact name that is on, or will be on, your passport.

**IMPORTANT** According to our travel agent and Homeland Security, there is a 3-4 month wait for issuance of passports – not 6 weeks like in the past. So, if you do not have a valid passport, you will need to take immediate steps to attain one. Your passport must have your legal name on it. Also, your passport MUST NOT expire sooner than 6 months after your return from this trip. If your passport will expire within 6 months of our return, you will need to renew it as soon as possible or you will not be able to board an aircraft. Or, if you have internet access, go to http://www.americanpassport.com/ for a 24 hour turnaround on your passport. This will cost additional money.

Please call Mentors’ Office Assistant, Jenny Wells, at 1-801-676-7776 with your credit card information. Below is an in-progress itinerary and information concerning the your week:

Friday, February 20, 2008
-Our travel party will meet at the Salt Lake City airport in the afternoon and depart together on a flight to Manila.

Saturday, February 21, 2008
-Jovy Guanzon, our regional manager for our Philippines partner organizations, will meet us on arrival and we will travel by bus to our hotel. Because of the long distance, we will not actually arrive until Saturday morning.

Sunday, February 22, 2008
-Breakfast at the hotel (Holiday Inn)
-Overview of Manila and a visit to the American military cemetery. Church services optional.

Monday, February 23, 2008
-We will spend the day visiting the Mentors Manila office and attending some client meetings (wherein they pledge to receive a loan, a remarkable experience).
-We will then visit a number of clients outside of the immediate Manila area.

Tuesday, February 24, 2008
-More client visits and loan officer training
-Meet in hotel lobby to have dinner with members of Mentors Manila Board of Directors.

Wednesday, February 25, 2008
-Travel to Pagsanjan Falls one of the premier tourist spots of the Philippines. More than 500 tourists from all parts of the world daily visit the town. These tourists are ferried to the enchanting Pagsanjan falls in native bancas paddled by expert boatmen. They all experience a thrilling memory of adventure, seldom surpassed in their lifetime.
-Whole day Pagsanjan Falls Tour (lunch & boatride)
-Travel to Tagaytay City. Tagaytay, located on a ridge 2,250 ft. above sea level, is a leisurely drive to the countryside south of Manila, past small coastal villages and towns; rice fields, tropical fruit orchards and coconut plantations.
-Overnight at Taal Vista Hotel

Thursday, February 26, 2008
-Breakfast at Taal Vista Hotel
-Depart hotel for a Tagaytay Day Tour. From the heights of Tagaytay, enjoy the breathtaking sight of one of the world's strangest wonders-- Taal Volcano, a volcano within a volcano and lake within a lake.
-Overnight at Taal Vista Hotel

Friday, February 27, 2008
-Breakfast at Taal Vista Hotal
-Transfer back to Manila
-Last client visit
-Overnight at Holiday Inn

Saturday, February 28, 2008
-Breakfast at hotel
-Corregidor Tour. Corregidor is an island in the entrance of the Philippines' Manila Bay. During World War II, Corregidor was the site of several battles and its fall to the Japanese forces was instrumental in the subsequent capture of the Philippines and the retreat of the United States in the early stages of the war. Currently, it is an important historic and tourist site.
-Transfer to Airport For Departure back to Salt Lake.
-Arrive in Salt Lake at 11:14 p.m.

If you need to return to the United States prior to Saturday, February 28, special arrangements can be made. We look forward to your participation in this incredible week.