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Holiday Greetings and End of Year Activities From
Hester J. Hodgdon Libraries for All
Wishing you all the Happiest of Holidays and the best in 2023!
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We are pleased to share our recent winter activities and
wish you all the best in 2023.
Celebrating 21 years of books in the hands of children!
On November 12th, we celebrated our 21st anniversary of the San Juan del Sur Library, and we were able to host our community wide celebration in the local park for the first time since 2019! Young children, students, chess players, and soccer champions joined us for an action-packed day of festivities. On top of the annual chess and soccer tournaments, the morning was filled with arts and crafts, piñatas, activities for teachers, and lunch for 500.
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Getting ready to start the chess competition with chess pieces printed using our 3D printer |
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Teachers and partner organizations’ morning of craft activities – pictured here is Pastor Francisco and his group of educators from Ameya. |
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Lunch for everyone! |
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We kicked off the afternoon award ceremony with a reading of the 2022 JumpStart Read for the Record book of the year, Nigel and the Moon. Students were awarded certificates and prizes for submissions to our annual poetry and drawing competition, chess and soccer accomplishments, and students who completed the 3D printing course taught in the library this fall received their completion certificates. In between awards, we had dancers, special speeches, and of course, for the finale, birthday cake! |
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Traditional Nicaraguan Dancers |
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Sarai from Ameya dancing a contemporary dance routine |
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Handing out awards |
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Students with their 3D printing course certificates |
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Birthday cake! |
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Library staff used our two mobile trucks, La Niña and La Chavala, to shuttle students and their families from the rural areas the mobile project serves. For many in our small community, the anniversary celebration is something kids look forward to all year. The excitement was palpable, and our entire team was overjoyed to be able to host this grand event once again. A group of volunteers from CAL (Colorado Association of Libraries) joined us as a part of their Librarian Adventure Tour and their participation in the festivities was an added pleasure. |
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Nigel and the Moon – 2022
JumpStart’s Read for the Record book.
Every year, JumpStart announces a book that is read all around the world on a certain day in October. Rather than celebrating this book for just one day, our library celebrates it for the entire year! We begin our anniversary celebration by reading the book on stage to the community. We also share and read it during the coffee hour and craft time with teachers and librarians who work with the Mobile Project all year. This year, the book was read by a local school director, and, when she returned home after the celebration, she shared it with her children. She told us that, while she was reading it, she related to Nigel, the main character in the book who struggles to decide what he wants to be when he grows up. Nigel decides that he wants to be an astronaut on the moon, but he says, “when the world needs a superhero, I can be that too.” The school director told us later that Nigel was her inspiration.
We will continue to celebrate this book throughout the year during our Mobile Project visits and will create activities students can engage with in their classrooms and in the Library in A Box Recipient projects throughout Nicaragua. |
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Astronaut crafts to go with Nigel and the Moon |
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 | Reading Nigel and the Moon |
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CAL Librarians Adventure Tour brought librarians and their knowledge to share with our partners.
November also brought librarians and library-minded people to SJDS to explore our projects and to lead a literacy workshop in Granada. This group from the Colorado Association of Libraries volunteered at our anniversary celebration helping out with crafts and teacher workshops, serving lunch to the attendees, and helping hand out awards in the afternoon.
A few days later, the group traveled north to Granada and led a literacy workshop for teachers and librarians involved with other organizations who use HJH’s Library in a Box Recipient system to lend their own books.
Nicolle Davies, the Colorado State Librarian, shared a presentation on the importance and techniques of marketing libraries. HJH Board Member, Barb Thorne, presented various activities focused on math, science, and creativity that correspond to books that could be read in the classroom. We shared lunch and a special Lotteria game (Bingo!) after lunch for prizes. The workshop was quite festive! The day concluded with each group taking home a large collection of books donated to us by Aim’s Bookstore in Cincinnati, OH. This event was an opportunity to bring several groups together, connect with each other, and share the collection of books that have been so graciously donated to us. |
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 | Our workshop group with books that were donated to their projects. All books were donated by Aim’s Bookstore |
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 | Playing Chalupa! (Latino Bingo!) |
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Still looking for last minute holiday gifts or wanting to honor someone special?
A donation made to our foundation can make a great gift for the person who already has everything they could wish for, loves to read, is an educator, or enjoys travel! Alternative “gift cards” can be emailed to you by request. |
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Donations can also be made to the library in honor of your loved ones who are no longer with us. We have a special page on our website for memorial donations that allow loved ones to be remembered.
Email [email protected] if you would like a “gift card” for your loved ones this holiday season or would like to set up a memorial donation for a loved one.
Giving Tuesday – You did it again and we are so grateful for your support.
We continue to be surprised by the power of Giving Tuesday – a global day of giving that happens the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Together, we raised $5795 of much needed funds to bring new computers and 3D equipment to our SJDS library. We are so very grateful to our donors who have contributed to our fundraisers this year! Your donations are the backbone of our foundation and, without you, this work would not be possible. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
Giving Tuesday is mostly run on social media platforms. Be sure to follow us on Facebook to stay up to date on current library and Foundation happenings! |
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Coming soon…
Aims bookstore 2.0 – yes, there are still more books that we have been invited to collect in Cincinnati, Ohio and more projects to look forward to in 2023.
As we look ahead to 2023, we will continue to reinvigorate our catalog of books in the Main Library, Mobile Project, and Satellite Libraries with the books donated to us from Aims Bookstore. We will also continue to share these collections with our partners and various groups we have worked with over the years. We are planning another trip to Cincinnati to collect more books in early 2023, and we can’t wait to see what opportunities, partnerships, and friendships lie ahead.
Also on our list for 2023…
- Many service groups are on the calendar for 2023. We can’t wait to have you back in San Juan with us!
- We have plans to grow our RACHEL project in the Main Library and at Escuela Adelante with an HJH Board Member trip planned for February 2023.
- New computers will be making their way to SJDS to refresh our computer lab in the library.
- A new 3D printer will be added to the Sueños 3D printing center, and classes will continue with local students.
- Hundreds, if not thousands, more pounds of books will be brought down to refresh collections and distributed where needed.
If these exciting programs speak to you, please consider making a donation to give us a strong start to 2023. We know you have a lot of choices when you donate to organizations during this giving season, and we are so honored to have your support. With your help, we will continue to leverage the power of education and literacy to enhance community development. |
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We are registered as Hester J. Hodgdon Libraries for All.
Please donate today with the PayPal or JustGiving buttons above OR by check made payable to:
HJH Programs
1716 Del Norte Ave.
Loveland, CO 80538
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A Note From Jane:
2022 is coming to a close for us in the most positive of ways. A busy and exciting 2023 full of sustainable new programs lies ahead. The staff and families of the San Juan del Sur Biblioteca, Mobile Project and our Executive and Advisory Boards of the Hester J. Hodgdon Program send you their loving and grateful Holiday greetings.
I would personally wish you all the best of Holiday times, Peace and Solace if this is a dark or sad time for you and Hope that the coming year will be all that you would need and wish for.
With my deepest gratitude for all we share and are able to provide together.
Jane
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From all of us, Adios 2022… Hasta Pronto 2023! |
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