Girlfriends

Eight years ago, Stacey Edgar had a two-thousand-dollar tax return and a deep desire to help provide economic security for women in need. She knew that of the 1.3 billion people living on less than one dollar per day, seventy percent are women. What she didn't have was a business plan. Or a passport. But that didn't stop her from creating a socially conscious business that has helped women on five continents feed their families and send their children to school.

'Global Girlfriends'  is Stacey's inspiring story of following her convictions, interwoven with the stories of her colleagues and friends - real women all over the world, from Guatemala to Nepal, from Haiti to Uganda.  It is also a passionate argument for simple actions we can all take to eliminate extreme poverty.

'Global Girlfriends' has grown into a multi-million-dollar enterprise that specializes in handmade, fairly traded apparel and items made by women worldwide because Stacey Edgar refused to be paralyzed by the scope of world poverty. She simply started by taking several small steps, personal responsibility firmly in hand, and never looked back.

Stacey writes in her book, "What was this world I'd brought three children into?  And what could I do to change it? (following the 911 attacks)"  She goes on to say, "My panic attack was brought on by my fear for my children, as the world seemed to be in a downward spiral.  But I knew, in my heart as well as from my experiences, that the only way to change the things we don't like in life is to take action.  If I felt helpless to keep my kids safe in my suburban Colorado neighborhood, which is essentially Mayberry, how could other mothers around the world make it through the day?  What would become of mothers who lived in drought, famine, poverty, or war?  Would their children live or die?"

My thoughts are what if a group of women raised an unusual group of children to help combat these problems?   Enough said!   That is in fact what has happened.

Stacey continues, "Of the estimated 1.3 billion people living on less than $1 a day, women make up 70 percent.  That's 900 million women trying to get by (and get their children by) on less than $1 per day.  The United Nations estimates that of the world's 27 million refugees, almost 80 percent are women.  Over 600 million women in the world are illiterate due to their lack of access to education.  In many developing countries, women are not allowed to own property, are denied access to credit, are trafficked as sexual slaves, and become infected with HIV / AIDS at a rate two times that of men.  The women of the world needed their own 911 call."