Five bucks.

Most of us have it, if not in our wallets, then in our checking account.

We can spend $5 so easily -- on a venti mocha at Starbucks, on a hand-made greeting card at Papyrus, or on a cross-town Metro fare.

On March 5, we're inviting you to spend $5 on something that will recycle itself and eventually touch scores of families struggling to lift themselves out of poverty.

In impoverished countries like Burundi, in Africa, a micro-loan of about $5 can help a micro-entrepreneur spark growth in her survival business so that it can sustain her familiy and put her kids through school.

For Leonie, it was a $7 loan, which she used to buy a bulk-bag of salt and sell it back to people in her community.

For the savings group in the province of Karusi overseen by Matilde, a community development coordinator with Five Talents' partner Mothers' Union, the loans they needed were as small as $3.80 -- for buying and selling bananas, cassava flour, and for planting crops, including beans.

In each case, those loans, once repayed, are passed on to another micro-entrepreneur, and then to another. Along with the loan capital for group members, Five Talents provides business skills training and spiritual development opportunities.

A one-time gift as small as $5 is re-used again and again in the developing world. Jobs are created. Lives are transformed.

Will you donate $5 on March 5? And will you invite a few of your friends to join you?

You are the catalyst. Thank you for giving $5 on March 5!