Eternal Threads founder earns accolade for giving ‘the right kind of help’
Linda Egle has dedicated her life to giving “the right kind of help” to women and children living in extreme poverty.
Now MedAssets, a company that provides management services for the healthcare industry, has recognized her work.
Egle, a member of the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas, and founder of the nonprofit Eternal Threads, learned recently that she’s one of two recipients of the 2013 Norman Borlaug Humanitarian Award. Borlaug, a Nobel Prize-winning agronomist, fostered “The Green Revolution,” which increased crop production around the world.
Two MedAssets employees — Egle’s nephew Larry Egle and Carol Copeland, a member of the Southwest Church of Christ in Omaha, Neb. — nominated Linda Egle for the prestigious award. Last year’s winner received a gift of $100,000.
Linda Egle, a retired flight attendant, first visited India 25 years ago where she established a program to educate tribal children who didn’t have access to education.
Inspired by the dignified, tireless women she met, she founded Eternal Threads to help them earn an income. The nonprofit now sells fair-trade items crafted by women in a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Madagascar and India. The women use the profits to send their children to school and improve the quality of their lives. The nonprofit also partners with non-governmental organizations, in countries including Nepal, to fight human trafficking.
When people living in poverty receive “help that helps them to help themselves, what they do with it never ceases to astound me,” Linda Egle said. “They just seize on that opportunity and use it for so much more.
“What we do may not be much, but they’re the ones that turn it into gold.”
Now MedAssets, a company that provides management services for the healthcare industry, has recognized her work.
Egle, a member of the Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas, and founder of the nonprofit Eternal Threads, learned recently that she’s one of two recipients of the 2013 Norman Borlaug Humanitarian Award. Borlaug, a Nobel Prize-winning agronomist, fostered “The Green Revolution,” which increased crop production around the world.
Two MedAssets employees — Egle’s nephew Larry Egle and Carol Copeland, a member of the Southwest Church of Christ in Omaha, Neb. — nominated Linda Egle for the prestigious award. Last year’s winner received a gift of $100,000.
Linda Egle, a retired flight attendant, first visited India 25 years ago where she established a program to educate tribal children who didn’t have access to education.
Inspired by the dignified, tireless women she met, she founded Eternal Threads to help them earn an income. The nonprofit now sells fair-trade items crafted by women in a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Madagascar and India. The women use the profits to send their children to school and improve the quality of their lives. The nonprofit also partners with non-governmental organizations, in countries including Nepal, to fight human trafficking.
When people living in poverty receive “help that helps them to help themselves, what they do with it never ceases to astound me,” Linda Egle said. “They just seize on that opportunity and use it for so much more.
“What we do may not be much, but they’re the ones that turn it into gold.”
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