Gold Medal
Dear Editor: Gold medals are reserved for excellence, for champions, for heroes. On April 17, an economist and unlikely hero, Professor Muhammad Yunus, became the seventh person in history to receive the triple crown for good works – the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and now the Congressional Gold Medal. The Gold Medal from Congress honors Professor Yunus for his pioneering microfinance work and lifelong mission of eradicating poverty.
Around the world, 1.2 billion people still live on less than $1.25 per day. Sixty percent of these are women. And there are still 2.5 billion people who lack access to safe financial services.
When he founded Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1983, Professor Yunus created an innovative way to help millions of poor people lift themselves out of poverty by providing very small loans to mostly very poor, rural women. We would like to thank Senator Murkowski, Senator Begich and Representative Young for cosponsoring the legislation awarding the Gold Medal to Professor Yunus for groundbreaking work.
However, Congress must do more than just honor Professor Yunus’s mission; they must lead. As work begins to determine U.S. funding priorities for fiscal year 2014, Congress should aggressively fund lifesaving poverty-focused foreign assistance programs to truly move the world closer to Professor Yunus’s vision of eradicating poverty.
Sitka RESULTS volunteers:
Michele Friedman, Nancy Knapp,
Patty Harris, Brenda Campen, Elizabeth Mosher, Donna Donohoe
