More than 1,000 miles south of Tiger Stadium lies the second poorest country in the western hemisphere: Honduras. University organization Students Helping Honduras aims to combat poverty and gang violence in the Central American nation through education and youth empowerment.
Founded in 2007 by American philanthropist Shin Fujiyama after he attended several service trips to Honduras, the national organization quickly grew from bake sales and car washes to a full-fledged nonprofit with over 100 collegiate chapters across the country, including one at the University.
Like its counterparts, the LSU chapter holds fundraisers and offers its members several opportunities a year to travel to Honduras for a week to participate in building schools.
The club’s most popular fundraiser, selling Threads of Hope bracelets, which is currently in swing. Threads of Hope employs women in the Philippines to make vibrant, hand-crafted bracelets which are then shipped to people who want to sell them for fundraisers.
The bracelets are $2 for one and $5 for three and can be purchased throughout the year in Free Speech Plaza. Half of all the proceeds from sales go toward Threads of Hope while the other half goes to Students Helping Honduras.
The club also hosts another fundraiser several times a year in Free Speech Plaza where it sells thrifted clothes donated by students.
All the money the club raises goes directly toward its parent organization which uses it to pay for materials and its employees, many of which are local Hondurans who help build the schools and run the hostels the students stay in.
Pre-nursing junior and executive board member of the LSU chapter Rain Breedlove attended one of the trips last summer with fellow board members Brannon Hardy and Kelly Clement.
The trip gave Breedlove a broader perspective and made her grateful for the opportunities she had been afforded in her own life, she said.
“It was probably the most life-changing experience I’ve ever had in my life,” Breedlove said. “I don’t think I’d be the same person I am today if I didn’t go.”
Breedlove loved spending time with all of the Honduran children and still keeps in touch with one of the girls, she said. Many of the children speak both Spanish and English in part because of the bilingual schools the organization built in the area.
In addition to making Honduran friends, Breedlove was also able to make friends from other chapters of the organization who attended the trip with her.
“I’ve never been surrounded by a more positive and uplifting group of people in my life,” she said. “I never for a second felt a moment of judgment.”
Breedlove was drawn to the club because of her love of the Hispanic culture and a desire to help others which fits into her goal of becoming a nurse, she said.
“Education is how I got here so to be able to help provide that for another community is what makes it worth it,” she said.
More than 1,000 miles south of Tiger Stadium lies the second poorest country in the western hemisphere: Honduras. University organization Students Helping Honduras aims to combat poverty and gang violence in the Central American nation through education and youth empowerment.
Founded in 2007 by American philanthropist Shin Fujiyama after he attended several service trips to Honduras, the national organization quickly grew from bake sales and car washes to a full-fledged nonprofit with over 100 collegiate chapters across the country, including one at the University.
Like its counterparts, the LSU chapter holds fundraisers and offers its members several opportunities a year to travel to Honduras for a week to participate in building schools.
The club’s most popular fundraiser, selling Threads of Hope bracelets, is currently in swing. Threads of Hope employs women in the Philippines to make vibrant, hand-crafted bracelets which are then shipped to people who want to sell them for fundraisers.
The bracelets are $2 for one and $5 for three and can be purchased throughout the year in Free Speech Plaza. Half of all the proceeds from sales go toward Threads of Hope while the other half goes to Students Helping Honduras.
The club also hosts another fundraiser several times a year in Free Speech Plaza where they sell thrifted clothes donated by students.
All the money the club raises goes directly toward their parent organization which uses it to pay for materials and its employees many of which are local Hondurans who help build the schools and run the hostels the students stay in.
Pre-nursing junior and executive board member of the LSU chapter Rain Breedlove attended one of the trips last summer with fellow board members Brannon Hardy and Kelly Clement.
The trip gave Breedlove a broader perspective and made her grateful for the opportunities she had been afforded in her own life, she said.
“It was probably the most life-changing experience I’ve ever had in my life,” Breedlove said. “I don’t think I’d be the same person I am today if I didn’t go.”
Breedlove loved spending time with all of the Honduran children and still keeps in touch with one of the girls, she said. Many of the children speak both Spanish and English in part because of the bilingual schools the organization built in the area.
In addition to making Honduran friends, Breedlove was also able to make friends from other chapters of the organization who attended the trip with her.
“I’ve never been surrounded by a more positive and uplifting group of people in my life,” she said. “I never for a second felt a moment of judgment.”
Breedlove was drawn to the club because of her love of the Hispanic culture and a desire to help others which fits into her goal of becoming a nurse, she said.
“Education is how I got here so to be able to help provide that for another community is what makes it worth it,” she said.
