Shin's Blog

On Wednesday night (International Women’s Day), Care International hosted a movie showing in select theatres about women’s issues around the globe. We had some time before John was going to be home to let us in, so Taylor and I went to watch the show. More importantly, SHH spends most of its resources working with girls (and women) in Honduras through our scholarships, micro-lending and other programs. We knew the showing would give us valuable insight about our field. The showing revolved around a great book I recently read called Half the Sky, written by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The entire book is about turning oppression into opportunities for women worldwide. It’s one of the best books I have ever read and was recommended by my long time mentor, Greg Stanton. He is constantly telling me about great books to read. I highly recommend reading this new book for everyone to learn about the power behind the “Girl Effect.”

Taylor and I spent the entire week in Boston visiting Boston College, Boston University, Suffolk University, Brandeis University, Tufts University, Wellesley College, and Emerson College. We talked to many students who are excited to start up chapters in the region – we had a cup of coffee during each meeting which probably didn’t help us fall asleep at night. Up in the Boston area, there seems to be a college or university on every corner. Despite the number of college students, we had a hard time finding cafes with free WiFi even with our GPS. I found that very strange, and missed the likes of Hyperion Cafe in Fredericksburg.

Taylor Hall, the former chapter president at UMW, has been volunteering his time by accompanying me in the east coast tour to promote SHH. He has until May to be with SHH as he is waiting to hear back from the Peace Corps. The two of us spent the entire week in Philadelphia, going to Temple, Drexel, UPenn, Arcadia, St. Joseph’s and La Salle. We promoted SHH in these campuses and talked to seven students on a one-one-one basis over coffee. We’re already in the process of creating chapters at Drexel and Temple. Taylor and I have been hopping around staying in different people’s couches and eating PB&J and cheap street food. He has generously offered us to use his car until we obtain a used vehicle later this month (hopefully).

Students and alumni from across the nation gathered this weekend at the George Mason University campus. We Skyped with the kids, showed a video and launched the new mySHH fundraising pages. After a quick pizza break, students broke off into workshops. Each workshop was hosted and organized by students from a different university. Topics ranged from organizing fundraising events to retaining club membership on campus. The George Mason chapter had organized all of the logistics, including reservations, food, drinks, free lodging and of course, three jugs of delicious coffee. They worked day and night to get things ready, especially Katie and Jack.

It was so great to see all of our volunteers who had come on our different service trips, as well as members that I met for the first time. It was especially great to see Kori and James from Clemson because they had to drive more than 500 miles to get there!

The spring fundraising campaign officially began after the Summit. Volunteers like Mike Glasner have already been getting donations through their personal fundraising pages.

For the next few weeks, I will be traveling across the east coast visiting 40 universities with Taylor Hall, an alumni member who had some time on hand before departing for the Peace Corps later this summer.

Volunteers from Operation Honduras began arriving on different days after re-scheduling their flights due to the snow storm that hit the east coast. They are an amazing group of professionals from Pennsylvania that has been coming to Honduras for many years to build schools, churches and orphanages. They are a mix of business people, engineers, teachers, construction workers and even a former Navy Seal. They are hilarious, fun and very hard working. Their goal this week is to lay as many blocks for the children’s home that we broke ground on just last month.

The SHH Summit was postponed until February 20th due to the record breaking blizzard! Bobby, Taylor and I were snowed in and stayed in the house all weekend working away on our laptops and enjoying the Super Bowl. We worked with students from GMU to cancel food orders, drinks and other arrangements they had made for the event.

Our students, always so resourceful, decided to turn this unexpected chain of events into an opportunity. Chapters all across the east coast have been raising money for SHH by shoveling snow in the neighborhoods around campus. So far, I've heard from Emerson at UMW who mobilized a group of a dozen members to grab their shovels. Taylor and I shoveled our driveway so that I could get the car out to catch my flight to Honduras tomorrow. I didn't think it would take us an entire day.

The SHH Summit is only seven days away. In 2006, we had our very first Summit in a small apartment building with just five students. This year, we can expect to see a thirty to forty fold increase in that number. Chapter meetings across campuses this week will mainly be about this long awaited event. The George Mason University Chapter is working day and night to make sure that every detail for the event is being organized. Student leaders from across the east coast are organizing their presentations and workshops. Others are arranging rides or flights to get to the Summit from their home town or campuses.

I'm on the phone and Gmail around the clock answering last-minute questions, but the vast majority of the work lies in the hands of our volunteers. The amount of organizing that our student volunteers are capable of doing would blow away anyone watching.

I spent a lot of time this week emailing back and forth with Katie, one of the amazing student leaders from George Mason University. She is working with a team of students to organize the up and coming SHH Spring Summit at their university.

Hundreds of volunteers and former volunteers will come together at GMU on February 6th to share their knowledge and experience organizing on campus. Student leaders will be making presentations to share best practices and lessons learned in a small group format. It's going to be great to be able to see volunteers who I worked with in Honduras! Many of them will be driving or flying in from far-away states.

I will be flying back to the US for ten days on January 31st to help the GMU chapter prepare for the long-awaited Summit!