New Chapter's Partnership with Whole Planet Foundation

By Barbi Schulick, Company Co-Founder

Founders Paul and Barbi Schulick with Barbi's father, Gerald Landgarten, on their first day of business in 1979 at their newly purchased natural foods store, Mother Earth, in Lexington, Mass.

My father's father was an entrepreneur. He created a plumbing supplies company that my father later inherited far earlier in the game than expected due to my grandfather's untimely death. The business wasn't anything to write home about, but it was a start and he'd had a formidable role model. He did what his father had taught him to do: work hard, use your noggin, and trust your instincts - the usual clichéd, yet worthy, advice. He did well and proved a useful example to my siblings and me, being that we all started enterprises of our own.

He was also there to help. In my case, I chose a life partner cut from the same cloth as my father: a creative, unstoppable force, destined for entrepreneurship. Paul attempted a stint on my father's factory floor and then along side him in his office, but neither quelled his restlessness. Every night he poured over his health and herbal books, dreaming of owning his own natural foods store. My father recognized his potential and the passion that fueled it, and took the leap to loan us the necessary funds to get started.

He died soon after, following the way of his father, but he left behind a storehouse of good counsel that steered us successfully through our beginning years at our store and later when we sold our store to build New Chapter. We were grateful for the example he'd set, but as the years passed and we hit detour after detour, we came to appreciate even more, the trust he and my mother had demonstrated by supporting our dreams. We now can humbly submit that without that start we likely would have fumbled and failed and never hit the momentum necessary to sustain success.

This is perhaps the central reason why I supported New Chapter's sponsorship of the Whole Planet Foundation whose mission is to create economic partnerships by supplying microcredit loans to hopeful entrepreneurs in developing-world communities that supply Whole Foods Market stores with product. The foundation was founded in partnership with Nobel Peace prize winner, Professor Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh's Grameen Bank, and much like my parents whose loan was given under the kindest possible terms, requires no collateral or contract of its recipients. The micro loans are normally $300 or less, just what is needed to finance self employment projects and generate income. They focus on women, the poorest of the poor, empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty by supporting their innate energy and creativity.

The program spans continents and boasts a strong natural foods supplier alliance with members like Seventh Generation, Celestial Seasonings and Naked Juice, who share in their entrepreneurial roots. Recently, New Chapter CEO Tom Newmark and Sustainability Manager, Sara Newmark, participated in the Supplier Alliance for Microcredit and partook in a 4day educational program in Costa Rica where they saw the impact of our contributions and learned first hand about some of our loan recipients. One loan enabled Yessenia Miranda of Pocora to leave a grueling factory job and purchase a sewing machine, freeing her to create custom designed curtain sets and salvage her family's quality of life.

Yessenia Miranda; Pocora, Costa Rica; Business: Sewing

Maria Auxiliadora of Peje used her loan to expand and upgrade her beauty salon, realizing a tangible increase in profits.

Maria Auziliadora; Peje, Costa Rica; Business: Beauty Salon

Hilda Paniagua of Siquirres was struggling with medical bills for her daughter when she identified a need in her community for import and distribution of fresh eggs which couldn't be found locally. Her loan was used to produce her own eggs, thereby substantially increasing her return.

Hilda Paniagua; Siquirres, Costa Rica; Business: Selling Eggs

It's likely that Yessenia, Maria and Hilda are using their noggins, and they may even have some helpful role models around, but without the funds that Whole Planet Foundation's Grameen Costa Rica provided, they would never have had the opportunity to exercise their abilities. Money used in this spirit is a powerful gift. Like caring parents it speaks of confidence and trust and supplies that sometimes crucial lift towards success.

To learn more about the far reaching efforts of The Whole Planet Foundation visit www.wholeplanetfoundation.org