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Our projects at HJH are blooming as we slide into Spring, and we need your support!
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HJH is excited to announce our annual Spring/Summer Matching Grant is springing forward again this year!
Our new Spring/Summer Matching Grant began May 1, 2023 and we need your support! Many of our donors wait for a matching opportunity to double their impact, and we are so happy to be able to offer this opportunity once again! HJH extends our deepest gratitude to the family who continues to fund this match for us year after year. |
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Ready, Set, Go – Action, Camera, Lights!
Engineering Brightness from Colorado brings bright possibilities to over 120 youth:
A large group of adults and teenagers from Colorado came to Nicaragua with the Engineering Brightness Project to teach the skill of assembling solar lanterns to various youth groups across Nicaragua. HJH hosted and facilitated the group’s efforts at our library in San Juan del Sur, at Hotel Con Corazón in Granada, and at the Iglesia Nueva Generacion in the rural town of Ameya.
Six young people from Colorado worked diligently to help build solar lanterns, they overcame language barriers to create new relationships, and each earned a Global Community Service Award for 40 hours of service. Many of the Nicaraguan students shared their home situations, often saying that they have several siblings and that there is very little light in their small homes.
In SJDS, the Engineering Brightness group taught several of Wiston’s Sueños 3D printer students, along with the local Vita Joven (Young Life) group, how to assemble the lanterns. Soldering is an essential part of assembling these lanterns and all of the students left with experience in this valuable trade. The students hand-produced their own lanterns, and now they can use them to do homework at home after the sun goes down. As the photos show, everyone enjoyed learning an incredible new skill and letting their own lights shine!
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 | Photos from workshops lead in each of the three cities the group visited! |
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 | Lamps assembled in San Juan del Sur! |
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 | Some of the lamps made in Granada! |
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 | Some of the lamps made in Ameya! |
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 | Board members Rosemary Green and Patricia Herron giving followup training with Escuela Adelante teachers. |
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HJH Board Members visit San Juan del Sur to work on RACHEL Project
In February, board members Patricia Herron, Atwill Hudgins, and Rosemary Green returned to San Juan del Sur to work on the RACHEL (Remote Area Community Hotspot for Education and Learning) project. They visited Escuela Adelante where they had installed a RACHEL system last August and provided more teacher training on using the system and troubleshooting a few issues implementing the system. They also worked on the SJDS Biblioteca RACHEL system and helped our library staff become more comfortable using this new technology. RACHEL is available for library patrons to use at no cost. The content on the servers is vast and can be used for research, enrichment, and more!
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Union Church Volunteers Return
Union Church volunteers from Waban, Massachusetts returned to San Juan del Sur in February, after a three-year absence. During their one-week stay, they were involved in many activities including painting a local school and helping provide funds for electrical repairs that support the well pump at the school.
Their ongoing relationship with Alpha Omega Church in San Juan del Sur included a day of activities with a reading program, crafts, and lunch for over 200 children and their families. We have a long-standing relationship with Union Church and loved having them back with us. We’re applauding plans for them to return once a year!
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 | Volunteer painter Sam Feldman gets instruction from friend Kent Wittler. |
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 | Face painting at Alpha and Omega church event with artist Jenny Spertner. |
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A Sad Announcement
Joyce Ann Krinitsky, age 71, of Terryville, CT passed away peacefully on February 18, 2023, at the Hospital of Central Connecticut, due to complications of pancreatic cancer. She was a supporter of our SJDS library and loved visiting and working with us. For many years Joyce was a vital part of the VOSH entourage visiting each January as Jefe #2 (Boss #2). She would stay with us at Hotel Villa Isabella and participate not only in the annual VOSH projects but with all of the library staff as well. She was a dear friend and will be so missed by all. A memorial page in her honor has been established on our website. Please respond to this email with memories of Joyce if you would like them featured on this page. In honor of Joyce’s memory, a donation fund has been created to provide a memorial bench or perhaps a rocking chair in her name for those of you who knew her and would like to honor her in this way. Suggestions as to what would be most appropriate are welcomed.
Click here for Legacy.com memorial page for Joyce. |
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 | Joyce Krinitsky |
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Refreshing a School Reading Room
With financial support from our partners at Opportunity Tree International, we were able to create a vibrant reading room at one of the schools our Mobile Project visits. The school director met with us to share her ideas for a space that was not being utilized, and, early this year, we were able to make that project happen! The room received a fresh coat of paint, tables, chairs, bookshelves, posters, and a cozy rug! Students now have a small library at their fingertips when they are at school!
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The school director shows the space last November before renovations. |
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Showing off the bright new reading room finished in January! Pictured from left to right: Library staff member Edwin Vasquez, the school director, HJH Vice President Patricia Herron, and HJH Executive Board Member Rosemary Green. |
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A Note From Jane
Spring has Sprung and it’s Matching Grant time!!
My mother used to love the expression “Spring has Sprung and the Grass is riz and I wonder where the flowers is!” Not grammatical, but cute and Spring has sprung in Colorado with buds on the trees (and yes okay it still snows occasionally…) In San Juan del Sur it’s full summer with Easter week having been a high point of Nicaraguan tourist time with trips to the beach and vacation time starting up.
Everything seems to be bustling along as we wind down there from all of the amazing tours and missions and activities we had in January, February, and March. What is also encouraging is that all of our groups have made plans to return, and the VOSH eye doctor group is already scheduled for January 5th – 13th, 2024!
All of our activities are ramping up and as the first article explains, it’s Matching Grant time again! The matching grant began May 1st and although we are not in a “May Day!, May Day!” disastrous situation yet, it seriously is time to generate more funding to carry us through the rest of this dynamic year. We appreciate all of you and your faithfulness.
Gratefully wishing you all a lovely Spring and or Summer depending on your geographic location!
Jane
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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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