President Jamie Boersma called the meeting to order at 12:10pm with a hearty “Good morning!”.  She was also dressed in her cheery white holiday attire.
 
Susan Moritz provided many quotes from dignitaries about money in honor of our speaker.
Yogi Berra says, “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore”.
J. Paul Getty says, “My formula to success is rise early, work late and strike oil.”
Malcolm Forbes says, “I made my money the old-fashioned way.  I was nice to a wealthy relative before he died.”
 
Colleen Rogers introduced guests and visiting Rotarians:
New members Warren Phillips and Jack Lashier were introduced.
 
Matt Busick reviewed information about Rotary Youth Exchange Program.  The club is targeting host families from Roosevelt and Valley schools.  Host families do not have to be Rotarians and the obligation to host a student is for approximately three months.
 
Becky Greenwald introduced our keynote speaker Zach Steele.  Zack is vice president of the Solidarity Foundation.  He was also joined by his Rotarian wife, Emily.
Zack shared stories of how people get credit when they need short term lending.
 
Airline credit card
Payday lending
Black market lending
 
What is the result in using the three options?
Airline credit card – return $40
Payday 433% APR
Black market – 365% APR
 
Solidarity Foundation was founded by Erick Kinman in 2010 to assist women in Mexico to sew and create jobs and livelihood.  He soon discovered that the jobs were not sustainable because there were no cash reserves.  As he put it “the nut was empty before it was cracked open”.
 
The foundation grew into a system for people to save and share in the rewards of saving.  Each savings group determines the amount to be saved by each group member.
 
Members within the group are then allowed to borrow from the collective savings of the group.  The group decides when the loan needs to be repaid.
 
As the collective savings amass, distributions are made to all members based on the individual deposits.
 
Most members repay the loans because borrowers see those that loaned them the money every week; therefore, there is personal accountability.
 
The Solidarity Foundation provides services from countries of South America to Des Moines and Omaha.  Currently, there are 54 groups globally with the majority of members being women.