In 1951, Jack Alter, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, school teacher, had an idea—to provide needs-based loans to fellow teachers. Today Advanta is a successful financial services company, with nearly 1,000 employees and well over 1 million small business customers nationwide. It all started with an idea. Great ideas are generated every day by people all across the country—now these ideas have a place to grow. IdeaBlob is Advanta’s newest website—a place where aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners (aka “Blobbers”) can share and compare their business ideas—and have a chance to win $10,000!Eligible individuals can submit their business idea to IdeaBlob, and based on votes from the IdeaBlob online community—which includes other innovators as well as friends, family, colleagues, associates, teachers, and mentors—one idea every month will win $10,000.Which brings me to the topic of this post—the Mothers’ Milk Bank of New England would like to provide breastmilk to premature and critically ill babies in the New England region—babies whose mothers are unable to provide their own milk. All milk will be donated by volunteers—breastfeeding mothers with a desire to help and milk to spare. The $10,000 grant would be used to:

• Purchase processing and storage equipment ($5,000).
• Provide donor human milk to low-income families ($3,000).
• Market Milk Bank services and recruit potential donors ($2,000).

The idea that attracts the most votes will win $10,000. You can help by casting your vote for the Milk Bank on IdeaBlob. It takes only minutes. Spread the word…mothers, babies, and families are counting on you!