Staff

The new Hollins Chapter of SHH has hit the ground running with its first ever fundraising event, a Honduran Dinner Fest that pulled in nearly $200. More importantly the event got even more students interested in the Hollins SHH, which already has two dozen members, a sizable figure at a school of only 800.

Eva Watkins, the founder of the Hollins Chapter, has traveled twice now to Honduras and eagerly awaits her return this summer when she will bring with her a group of excited Hollins students. As a women’s college Hollins is full of female students anxious to make a difference, especially helping to empower the young women of Copprome.

Next for the Hollins Chapter are more spring fundraisers, planning the August trip to Honduras and a caravan to Fredericksburg in April for the Walkathon.

Link: Hollins  read more »

Sara A. Quinteros is proud to announce that the newest chapter of SHH is being developed at the Pennsylvania State University. Sara transferred to Penn State this year from the University of Mary Washington. She has been involved with SHH since it started three years ago and is proud to say that Penn State, thanks to the help of the Latin American Student Association (LASA) and its faculty advisor Dr. Andres Diaz, is now officially a chapter. Their first official chapter meeting will be next week. Penn State's goal for this year's Walkathon is to collect donations of school supplies and clothes for the children as well as increase membership, have officer elections and bring at least 15-20 volunteers to walk at our 3rd annual Walkathon on April 19, 2008.

Link: Penn State

From June 4th to August 1st, six SHH interns will be living and working in El Progreso, Honduras to implement various projects to expand the strength and service of SHH within the community. For the application process, interns were asked to develop their own project proposal, based on their skill sets and interest and provide an explanation of how they would implement the project.

Some of the projects that will addressed by the interns include the following: Microfinance in Villa Soleada, Bilingual education at Copprome, water and sanitation at Villa Soleada, eco-friendly and fairly traded trash bags made by members of Villa Soleada, and Women's program for Copprome graduates. The main objective of the internship program is to expand beyond the one-week service trips and provide students with the opportunities to research, implement, and evaluate their own ideas in the real world.  read more »

Nearly forty of the finest minds SHH has to offer met at UVA for the first inter-chapter leadership summit. During the eight-hour conference, students from UVA, the University of Mary Washington, Virginia Tech, Hollins University, Georgetown University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Christopher Newport University met their counterparts at other chapters, discussed the upcoming Walkathon cause, participated in workshops, and heard from a guest speaker.  read more »

At Copprome Orphanage, SHH will soon inaugurate the recently-constructed Sunshine Education Center. Yet, no education center is complete without the projects and people that make learning happen. This Fall, Chuck Abbott will join SHH in Honduras as the Education Center Project Director. Chuck is a 2007 graduate of the College of William & Mary who holds Bachelor’s degrees in Hispanic Studies and International Studies. His first initiative will focus on designing a sustainable English as a Second Language (ESL) program.  read more »

A lot has happened to SHH over the past two years. What was once a movement of two students has grown to a national effort of more than three hundred. As a result, SHH as an organization has changed. This summer, SHH expanded its new Board of Directors to eight members. In order to maintain grassroots control, the new Board includes several very talented undergraduate and graduate students. However, in order to maintain expert guidance, it includes several very accomplished professionals. In addition, this new organizational structure includes plans for an expanded Board of Advisors and Alumni Board. Due to the fact that most Board members are actively involved with campus chapters, SHH feels that this structure will continue to foster individual member ingenuity while increasing professional cooperation. The result, of course, will be greater benefits for Honduras.

On July 21, 2007, SHH held a conference in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The meeting included student leaders, recent graduates, and some of our organization’s most accomplished professionals. In particular, leaders from the Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, Georgetown University, the College of William and Mary, and the University of Mary Washington were all in attendance. The focus of the meeting was cooperation and organizational growth.  read more »

On May 22, 2007, Students Helping Honduras officially became a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Though incorporated since February of 2006, SHH had been working for more than a year with the Internal Revenue Service to achieve this important status. For our donors, this means that all donations made to SHH—both past and future—are tax-deductible.  read more »