Volunteerism

FEED Aims for One Million Meals in One Night

We sat with subsistence farmers and heard about their struggles to make ends meet because their maize-drying machine had just broken; we visited with teachers and mothers who rigorously prepare the school meals each day for their kids and experienced how hot and smoky their unventilated kitchens were...

By Lauren Bush Lauren
Just a week ago I landed in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in one of the scariest plane landings I have ever experienced. My travel companion, Christian Courtin-Clarins, the Chairman of Clarins, was by my side as I gripped my seat as we made our harrowing decent toward the runway. Our visit had officially begun. Clarins has been a partner of FEED Projects for the past year and a half. FEED is a social business I started five years ago with the mission to create good products that "FEED" the world. So far we have launched three FEED bags with Clarins, all filled with Clarins skincare products that have been sold at Nordstrom and Bloomingdales. Each product sold has raised funds to give school meals, with the overall goal of our partnership being to raise at least 1 million meals.

Seabees Build Schools and Clinics Near La Lima

I like doing projects like this a lot. It gives me a sense of pride knowing that this clinic will help the local people.
-Charles Rosser

By Sarah Lupescu
Four construction sites that are part of Beyond the Horizon Honduras are making headway. United States military engineers working with Honduran forces are building two schoolhouses and two medical clinics in rural communities. Beyond the Horizon 2012 allows US military personnel to sharpen their occupational skills while bringing lasting benefits to the people of Honduras. Navy Seabees, with the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 22, are building a schoolhouse at the Ramón Amay Amador construction site near La Lima. “We are building this schoolhouse and managing the construction on a medical clinic,” said Chief Petty Officer Chet Kowalski.

University of Maine Builds Sewage Treatment System in Dulce Vivir de Copán

The villagers only get water sporadically. Initial water tests showed the presence of fecal coliform and E. coli. Their latrines were flooding into their yards; they were essentially living in their own waste.
-Rita Cooper

By Don Perkins
While scores of college students enjoyed some fun in the sun over spring break, a few dedicated souls from the University of Maine in Orono were immersed in "septic system boot camp." Since 2008, Engineers Without Borders at the University of Maine has worked on a project to build an effective sewage treatment system for a community in Honduras. Student members have designed as well as funded the project. "I was impressed with the students," said Albert Frick, who operates Albert Frick Associates in Gorham and served as field mentor. "It was a great experience for them. They got as much out of it as the Hondurans."

Missouri Army National Guard Survey Team Deploys to Naco

Each parcel of land will soon be home to a clinic or a schoolhouse. In addition to the clinic in Quimistan and the schoolhouse in Micheletti, they also surveyed the parcel of land in La Lima which will become the Flores de Oriente health clinic.

By Mary L. Williams
A four-person Missouri Army National Guard survey team from the 35th Engineer Brigade out of Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, has honed their Soldiers' skills during a recent three-week deployment to Naco (Cortés), Honduras, in support of Beyond the Horizon Honduras 2012. The team is easy to spot as they depart the forward operating base each morning headed out to a construction site. They're loading the bus with a sighting level, tripod and stadia rod -- standard surveying equipment. The parcels of land they will survey are baron or have been cleared of any existing structures. They know it's a tight schedule and that before the engineers begin work, the land is first surveyed.

JTF-Bravo Provides Medical Care in Gracias a Dios

By Christopher Diaz
Fifty-five members from Joint Task Force-Bravo [in Comayagua, Honduras] partnered with the Honduran Ministry of Health and Honduran military last month to provide medical care to 1,774 patients in a four-day joint Medical Readiness Training Exercise. The team traveled to the municipalities of Batalla and Wawina in Gracias a Dios, conducting the MEDRETE in the local schools. Patients received a preventative medicine briefing, health screenings and were able to see a healthcare provider for further treatment as indicated. At the first station, US Air Force Staff Sgt. Daniel De La Torre, Medical Element Medical Technician, assisted in screening patients. For him, serving on the MEDRETE team was an eight-year dream come true. "I've been trying to get on this type of (humanitarian) mission ever since I joined the Air Force," said the med tech. "I found out that there was this mission and volunteered for it... I finally got the opportunity."

Marching for the Environment in La Masica

Normally, it is just beauty queens, business advertisement, lots of punta music, pretty girls and drunk spectators. Oh god, should I have brought these children to this event... ? Is this gonna be PG? Are these parents gonna kill me? But nonetheless, we persevered providing a light of positivity and family fun in this annual parade.

By Allison Havens
It was a hot and humid day like normal in La Masica (Atlántida), Honduras, and all my 100 kids and their parents were already lined up at the gas station ready to start the parade. My heart dropped a little realizing that they all actually showed up on time, for once... Meaning that we still had another two hours to wait for the beginning of the parade, due to my overestimation of typical Honduran tardiness. But it was just as well considering we still had to feed all 150 people and I realized that most of the kids were still wearing their Sunday best, waiting to change into their costumes. Wow, these kids dressed up to come to La Masica to participate in the parade! OK, this is a big deal for them.

Little Roses, Big Dreams

Sidestepping the inaction of the local government, Frade used Allison’s organization to raise funds for her mission. Equipped with US$40,000 and sheltering 26 young girls in a rented house, the foundation for Our Little Roses had been laid.

By Drew Jackson
Nothing about Sleepy Hollow Bed and Breakfast in Somerset, Virginia, appears out of the ordinary. There is a small pond with an accompanying gazebo, tea service with cookies, the promise of peaceful solitude and a wandering black lab, nosing into laps, especially those of strangers, in hopes of a brief scratch. Away from the main house, though, in a small, unassuming cottage, is a line reaching out to another world, a line connecting the scenic seclusion of Somerset with the harshest realities of poverty in Honduras. “This is our international headquarters,” said Beverly Allison, as she motions to a sign on the cottage bearing: Our Little Roses Foreign Mission Society and with her tongue pressed ever so slightly against her cheek Allison is the executive director of OLRFMS and owner of Sleepy Hollow.

Riecken Gets Gates Grant for Community Libraries

The spirit of discovery and community service of the libraries have led teachers to change their teaching from rote to research, opened farmers’ markets, promoted internet coffee sales, demonstrated fiscal honesty that has even been emulated by mayors, inspired prison reading groups, and are recovering endangered Mayan languages by publishing their books of their village histories in their ancestral tongues.

PR Newswire
Riecken Community Libraries this week received a multi-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support their network of libraries in Central America. The non-profit organization started more than sixty years ago when a young boy growing up on Cape Cod discovered his public library. The boy’s future successes allowed him to start what is now a thriving network of 64 rural community libraries throughout Guatemala and Honduras.

Wisconsin Volunteer Helps Infant With Seizures

When Camila was born, there wasn’t even a question if Bear would be the girl's godmother. And when Camila's seizures started -- and Honduran doctors documented they couldn’t provide the medical care she needed -- Bear rallied the troops to get her best friend and goddaughter to America.

By Sarah Worthman
At four months old, Camila Flores began having seizures that violently shook her little body. Doctors in her native Honduras were not equipped to help her, and her mother, Chena Flores, was frightened about the effects the seizures would have on her daughter. But Sam Bear, a 21-year-old Fox Point, Wisconsin, native, stepped up and raised thousands of dollars to help bring Camila to America to discover the cause of, and treat, the baby’s terrifying seizures.

The Ethics of Storytelling

I'm focusing on the positive stories... stories of transformation. I don't want to be one of those people who uses suffering children in the developing world to elicit funding.

By Michael Solis
It's no secret that NGOs (non-governmental organizations), while considered "non-profit," require successful business strategies to survive. With most NGOs relying on the generosity of individuals, foundations, and businesses to keep their operations afloat, they must master the art of appealing to their supporters. One way of doing this is through the timeless practice of storytelling. In light of the "Kony 2012" saga -- the story of one valiant white hero who was ready to take down Central Africa's Lord's Resistance Army... until a mental breakdown of the naked variety brought about his tragic downfall -- more NGOs are contemplating the ethics of utilizing social and digital media to promote their causes.