Toast to Tanzania 2014

Join us at our fourth annual Toast to Tanzania to benefit Opportunity International.

Together, we will celebrate an evening of networking wtih young professionals, including an open bar and hors d'oeuvres; participate in a raffle, silent auction, marketplace; and hear from keynote speaker, Mark Lutz, SVP of Global Philanthropy at Opportunity International and author of the book Unpoverty. 

Suggested donation $35, $40 at the door. All proceeds benefit Opportunity International. 

Young Ambassadors for Opportunity (YAO): Our mission is twofold: to raise awareness about the life-changing power of microfinance in the New York community, and to raise funds for Opportunity International's transformational microfinance services around the world. We plan events all year round, and we hope you'll join us for them. YAO focuses on:

1. Education - learning more about global poverty, development, microfinance, leadership and more. 
2. People-raising - advocating for and sharing the mission of Opportunity International with personal networks, speaking on Opportunity's behalf and serving as Opportunity's representatives in communities around the country. 
3. Fundraising - raising support for Opportunity's work around the world through events and campaigns (like skydiving, Living Below the Line, playing cornhold, running races, dancing at fancy galas and more!)

For more information about YAO, visit: https://opportunity.org/join-a-community/yao/

For more information about the YAO New York chapter, visit: https://opportunity.org/join-a-community/yao/chapters/new-york-events

Opportunity International: Opportunity International provides access to savings, small business loans, insurance and training to more than 5 million people working their way out of poverty in the developing world. Clients in 22 countries use these financial services to expand businesses, provide for their families, create jobs for their neighbors and build a safety net for the future. For more information, visit https://opportunity.org/

Unpoverty: The poorest people in the world do not just survive–they thrive lavishly. They enjoy rich family relationships, build vibrant communities and exude deep faith. They have much to teach us about life and inspire us with their ingenuity, persistence, generosity and self-reliance.

Mark Lutz has visited families living in cardboard huts, hiked dusty paths to isolated African villages, and tiptoed across putrid open sewers on makeshift bridges. UnPoverty relays those astonishing encounters with unforgettable people: desperately poor, yet abundantly rich.

When we hear about the billions of people living on a few dollars a day, do we visualize what that means? These stories put individual faces on unimaginable statistics and bring their reality to life. You may even see yourself in them.

Come with Mark as he visits his friends in far-away places not often seen. He takes you into their homes and their hearts. Experience life at the bottom of the economic ladder; you will resonate with his insightful reflections. His gripping stories will leave you challenged by what we can and must do and encouraged by what they do with so little.

Their poverty has more to do with latitude and longitude than with laziness or lack of intelligence. Through no fault of their own they are poor monetarily, but rich in areas many of us are bankrupt. Mark has watched innovative and hard-working people undo the chains of poverty, often with a large ripple effect in their families and entire communities.

After more than two decades of working closely with some of the poorest people living in developing nations, Mark Lutz now believes that what he calls unpoverty is possible. You too will catch the vision as you read these enlightening tales. Mark calls us to join an accelerating revolution to eradicate extreme poverty during our lifetime. He makes the bold claim that this audacious goal is possible, and invites you to unite with the rich poor people in our global village to create a world of unpoverty. To learn more, visit http://www.unpoverty.org/