Shed Pounds to Raise £'s

By walking to work for The Microloan Foundation

Walk to Work, an international fundraising event being organised by UK microfinance charity, the MicroLoan Foundation, has been endorsed by the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson.

Referring to the event Mr Johnson said: “Walk to Work not only helps the poorest people in Africa but will also get people on their feet walking to work. This is an ideal opportunity for people to get healthy while helping women in Africa.”

On Friday 12 September, people from all over the UK and as far afield as Australia, the United States and Africa will walk to work, benefiting their health whilst raising money for the MicroLoan Foundation (MLF) which provides small loans to women in sub-Saharan Africa. The charity will make 17,000 loans this year and, with a 99% repayment rate, will allow increasing numbers of women to set up small businesses such as fishing, selling groceries or making clothes.

Taking part in Walk to Work – which can also mean Walk to School, Walk to the Supermarket or Walk to the Golf Club, depending on individual inclination and circumstance – is simply a matter of registering on the website, www.walktowork.org.uk, making a small donation to the charity, and walking all or part of the way to your chosen destination on that day.

Commenting on the work of the MicroLoan Foundation, the charity’s Patron, Bob Geldof KBE, said: “The MicroLoan Foundation is unlike traditional charities. The people it helps may be poor but they are not helpless. What they need most is an opportunity to improve their lives. Microloan’s clients stand on their own two feet; they do not see themselves as recipients of charity, but as businesswomen, transforming their own lives.”

For more information about MLF visit www.mlf.org.uk or call 020 8996 1730

August 29, 2008