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Students Helping Honduras
TOWSON, MARYLAND (Towerlight) - It’s been one year since student group Students Helping Honduras erected a children’s home in Villa de Soledad.
The structure would be a haven to orphaned boys and girls, providing them with a house, family, electricity, food, and most importantly, shelter from the harsh environment.
Members fundraised more than $42,000 in four months and traveled to the village to assist in the orphanage’s construction.
“Going back this winter and seeing these boys having a home, having food, going to school, having a family, and them saying, ‘Thank you, Towson, now I have somewhere to go sleep at night,’ it’s overwhelming for the students,” SHH co-president Amanda Fennell said.
Part of that $42,000 came from honduROCK, a concert at the Recher Theatre that featured SHH members and TU alumni Darryl and Elliot Glotfelty’s band, The Lake Effect.
This year, the tradition continued and expanded to include bands Three Tree Experience, Hang On and BALLYHOO!
As of Sunday, SHH Co-president Sara Bielecki said that the group raised more than $8,000 without processing some of their merchandise profits.
The night’s goal was $10,000, double the $5,500 in donations raised at last year’s concert.
The funds would benefit the construction of a bilingual school for the Honduran children, according to Bielecki.
SHH founder Shin Fujyiama aims to build 1,000 schools in Honduras in 10 years.
“All these kid have to walk miles to school and worry about gang violence, getting kidnapped, getting hit by cars and buses,” Bielecki said.
The group has already raised $23,000, roughly half of their $50,000 goal.
Bielecki said that 70 online fundraising pages are active, with 35 members attending every meeting. Towson sponsors the largest SHH chapter in the nation.
“There are so many people who have come to Honduras, wanted to be doctors and lawyers, and changed their career paths,” Fennell said. “It gives you a different perspective and [helps you] find a purpose, and I think what a lot of young people are missing is a purpose. This can definitely help with that.”
SHH is currently selling native crafts, including recycled clutch bags and shot glasses, and is raffling a parking permit for next year.
The group meets every Monday at 8 p.m. in the West Village Commons.
“We’re so addicted to what’s going on in our own lives’ bubbles and certain of people,” Fennell said. “The opportunity to look outside into the Third-World view gets people motivated.”
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Updated 402 days ago Article ID# 1553195
Students Helping Honduras
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