EPN Heroes: The Introduction

Every culture has its heroes. The term "hero" describes individuals who display great courage in the face of adversity while striving to benefit others. The term "hero" often refers to narrative legends like Superman and Wonder Woman, mythical characters who use their superhuman powers to defend society against evil. Heroes also come up when we think of famous figures who have changed the course of history. We describe founding figures, human rights leaders, and people known from text books as heroes.

But we've seen other kinds of heroes, normal folks who commit themselves to extraordinary service. Dexter and I have been awed as we listen to John and Judy tell us about the people they've met and partnered with while striving to eliminate poverty in Africa.

These aren't our heroes! (Image by richies via Fanpop)

We hear about superhuman feats of compassion. The ability to experience another's suffering as your own is a gift, and we've seen it to be far more impressive than the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Many of our partners have given up comfortable lives to live lives of genuine self-sacrifice. Their heroic spirit of compassion is truly inspiring.

We've heard tales of superhuman feats of ingenuity -- champions of agriculture who are able to maximize every drop of water. These heroes teach women, men, and children vocational and business skills that lead to prosperity and community development. That ingenuity drives hope.

Programs like Farmers of the Future (the kickoff ceremony is pictured below) equip students to take on the economic challenges of their country directly. Agriculture becomes a tool for these students to provide food and wealth for their families and communities.

These kids from the Little Rock school are ambition in the flesh-working against all odds and taking full advantage of the opportunities that they have.

It is often difficult for those of us who are well-fed and well-sheltered to imagine life for the world's extreme poor. Every day can be a struggle to simply exist. However, you won't find people cowering in the face of adversity in places like the Millennium Villages or The Little Rock Early Childhood Development Centre or the Songhai Center. You'll find people with superhuman perseverance, striving for a better life despite the challenging conditions. 

We cannot keep these stories to ourselves. They need to be told. Each month you'll be introduced to an "EPN Hero" and read an amazing story about an amazing individual. They remind us that being a hero has little to do with extraordinary talent or ability, but rather with extraordinary commitment: the causes to which we commit, passionately and faithfully. Each one of these stories inspires us to do more to help others.  We hope they help you to realize your own heroic potential.

As the Year Comes to A Close...

As 2014 draws to a close, we are elated to share the many successes we've had this past year. When Jonathan and I first became involved with Eliminate Poverty NOW, we could not imagine how meaningful EPN's work would be to us, and how personally impacted we’d be. EPN has gained great momentum; we’re helping more people than ever before and initiating new campaigns with exciting potential. We’re making real progress in giving people the means to lift themselves out of poverty.     

To our partners, thank you for your remarkable passion and commitment. Whether in Africa or North America, you are central to our goal of eliminating poverty. We appreciate all of your collaboration and hard work over the past year.

To our Board of Directors and advisers, we are grateful for your continued service. We value your commitment to the work we do, your ever-present feedback, and your giving that allows 100% of public donations to go directly to project work in Africa.

And to all our friends who have volunteered and supported us in countless ways over the year, we can’t thank you enough. Your donations, page-views, emails, and letters are the fuel that keeps us going both in the United States and throughout Africa. Thank you all.

Check out our year-end highlights below, as well as our Annual Appeal letter. And if you haven't already, please take this opportunity to make a donation today. 2014 was a great year of progress. With your help we can make a lasting difference for even more deserving people in 2015.

2014 Year-End Highlights

Annual Appeal Letter

Introducing the New and Improved Eliminate Poverty NOW website.

Hello All!

We're excited to announce the launch of the new website for Eliminate Poverty NOW. Jonathan and I have been steadily working to bring the site up-to-date, make it easily accessible on computers, tablets and phones, and take advantage of lots of fantastic images and video. With plenty of help from Helen, John, Judy, and a host of other people on our team, we're ready to unveil the new EliminatePovertyNOW.org.

Just a few of the site's features:

• The blog is now fully integrated into the site, so you can go straight to our homepage for all our newest information.
• All of the new projects are included, and will be continuously updated.
• We are rolling out a new campaign to highlight people who mean a great deal to the mission and goals of EPN -- the EPN Heroes. We've given these Heroes a spotlight on the new site.

The site is chock full of information and other cool features so head to EliminatePovertyNOW.org and check it out.  And please let us know what you think of the new site.  You can post your comments below.

PS.  Today there are so many combinations of hardware and software it's impossible to check them all out in advance.  If you experience any problem with the site please let us know.