Villa Soleada

Come out to SHH’s only (and BIGGEST) fundraiser of the summer! We will be hosting a Zumbathon, a two-hour aerobics/dance class where 100% of the entrance fees go to SHH. Get a great workout, meet new people (and/or reunite with fellow SHH members), practice your Latin dance moves, and support a great cause!

What is Zumba????
"Zumba fuses hypnotic musical rhythms and tantalizing moves to create a dynamic workout system designed to be FUN and EASY TO DO!

It's FUN! It's Different! It WORKS!!!! Come to class, talk to the people, and FEEL the ALEGRIA!"

$10/person  read more »

A group of six alumnae from the University of Mary Washington traveled to El Progreso for a week to continue their support of SHH and survey the projects that are underway. Five of the six were on the first trip to Nuestras Pequeñas Rosas in 2004 and all seven were participants in SHH while students at UMW. During the week they visited the nutrition center and Copprome orphanage, worked at La Villa Soleada, visited the Siete de Abril community and accompanied Cosmo Fujiyama as she presented the land deed for the Por Venir School. "I am so thankful to have had this week here and I feel reinvigorated to keep supporting SHH and to find even more ways to contribute. It’s remarkable how much has happened in the months since Shin and Cosmo moved here." --Kelly Ryan '06

Over 125 students participated in service learning trips to El Progreso, Honduras between December 15, 2007 and January 13, 2008. In addition to several graduate students, alumni, and working professionals, volunteers represented 13 different colleges: the University of Mary Washington, the College of William and Mary, the University of Virginia, Georgetown University, Virginia Tech, the College of Westminster, the University of Richmond, Boston College, Barnard College, Hollins University, the University of Massachusetts, Western Illinois University, and Rutgers University. Volunteers spent between one and four weeks in the country.  read more »

On December 17, 2007, over one hundred villagers and SHH volunteers gathered to break ground on a major housing project that will benefit families from the impoverished village of Siete de Abril. Villa Soleada (Sunshine Village), named after Doris Buffet's Sunshine Lady Foundation, came into being after a joint decision by the community of Siete and the SHH Board of Directors in early November, which voted together to move the village rather than continue to contest ownership of the land Siete de Abril currently occupies.  read more »

On December 7th, SHH finished opening up roads inside and leading to Villa Soleada. The mayor of El Progreso, Alexander Lopez, sent bulldozers and other heavy machinery to clear the way. Meanwhile, families from Siete de Abril moved an approximately 80-foot high pile of rocks and gravel onto low-lying spots of the road with their both hands and shovels. With roads now in place, anyone who wants to visit Villa Soleada has access to our project.

On Sunday, October 27, Students Helping Honduras took a large step forward in its effort to provide more than seventy homes to the villagers at Siete de Abril in El Progreso, Honduras.

For the past several months, SHH has been working hard with Honduran lawyers and government officials to obtain land titles for the families living at Siete de Abril. Although nearly half of the land in Honduras is currently untitled, SHH felt very strongly that this was a critical precursor to any building project—for which security and sustainability are primary goals. Ultimately, this process was complicated by the villagers’ uncertain right of ownership, a fact disputed by several external parties. The resulting legal processes to obtain village ownership of this land may have taken between one and five years to realize, if possible at all.  read more »