MEDA supporters across North America plan August move-a-thons
Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) supporters, whose efforts to create business solutions to poverty, enjoy getting together. In normal years, groups across North America have regular meetings throughout the year, and annual barbecues in the summer to raise funds for MEDA projects. With the COVID-19 pandemic making such gatherings impossible, many MEDA hubs are planning…
Watch: MEDA helps Colombian car company
The climate crisis is top of mind for many these days, so here’s a story about Maureauto Colombia (AVIS), a car rental company in Bogotá, Colombia that is reducing its environmental impact. In 2015, Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) awarded Maureauto Colombia a sustainability innovation grant. The grant has allowed the company to install Trabold…
Myanmar on the Move
When I originally told friends and family of my intention to travel with my family to Myanmar, I was challenged with the idea of a known global-crisis country as a travel destination. However, we were completely removed from any threat of the Rohingya genocide crisis in the northwest of the country. Our experience was in…
MEDA sets a record as donors give $6.5 million
Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) raised a record $6.5 million from donors in the past year, president Allan Sauder told the group’s annual meeting in Vancouver Nov. 2 to 5. Matched by grants from governments and other institutional funders, those gifts allowed MEDA to help 91 million families in 60 countries “realize happier, more economically…
From Amish settlement to the Gates Foundation
More than 500 Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) convention-goers were entranced as Joyce Bontrager Lehman recounted her journey from an idyllic childhood in the Amish settlement of Kalona, Iowa, to international development work in Kabul, Afghanistan, and beyond. Bontrager Lehman built on the convention theme, “Enduring values: Lasting impact.” She credits her mother’s influence in…