2014 Hands to Honduras Update

 
A very interesting update from Tom Plumb on Hands to Honduras, a multi-faceted project spearheaded by supported by the Port Isabel Rotary Club, and supported by the Rotary Club of Southside Corpus Christi.
Many of you know of the Port Isabel Rotary Club's humanitarian efforts in Honduras...primarily building schools and water projects.  (...)
 
Hola,
 
Ok, it is time to get serious about 2014.  Our tentative work crew dates for next year are:  February 12-21 and February 21-March 1.
Leslie Galipeau's Harvest Festival fundraiser in Weybridge, Vermont is October 12 this year!!!  Please attend!!
 
    We accomplished a lot this year:
 

    Barrio Capiro

        A new kinder classroom serving 30 children
        A new Elementary School Classroom serving 55 children
        rewiring of a couple of classrooms
        A water storage tank serving 58 families (thanks Gene Seaman from Corpus Christi for funding this)  
    April the 25th
        A new kindergarten serving 65 children

    Guadalupe Carney

        A new kindergarten serving 16 students
        Provision of school supplies to the children by a S. Burlington Vermont school

     Microloans

        8 physically challenged individuals have each received (and have been paying back on schedule at 3% interest) a $100.00 microloan to start businesses.  We are close to entering the second round of loans. Thanks go out to Bill Mann from McAllen, Texas for providing the seed money for this effort.

     Buenos Aires  

        We completed the water system serving 60 people in a small mountain village in Bonito Oriental--a new dam, a new water storage tank with sediment filter, repairs to an old water tank, new pilas (sinks) for all the families, new pipeline, tilapia ponds, and individual home filtration systems.  Thanks
            go out to Sebastopol, California Rotary Club and two neighboring clubs and their district for funding this project

    Barrio San Martin

        The clean water tank sering 6000 people is now finished!!!  We have reforested their water shed, built a second dam for them, drilled a back up well, built a river water and slow sand filter tank, and are now preparing the filtration modules. Thanks to Jim Baran, our volunteer engineer, and Jesus Romero, our electrician and new "water technician" for making this happen.

    Barrio Cristales

        The filtration modules serving the 3000 people of this barrio are being prepared for their water system.  Thanks to Jim Baran, our volunteer engineer, and Jesus Romero, our electrician and new "water technician" for making this happen.

    Las Champas library project

        Thanks to a $2,000.00 grant provided to the Historic Brownsville, Texas Rotary Club, by Wells Fargo bank, we have build library furniture for a new library....yet to be built by the community.
  
 
    We have also been awarded a Rotary 5930 district grant to do the following--our portion of the $5,417.00 cost of the project is $2,710.00:
 

    Guadalupe Carney

        Build latrines and a pila or the elementary school
        Bring power to the elementary school

    Ilanga Viejo

        In 2010 we built three classrooms in this community--the grant will pay for latrines and a pila for the school
    April the 25th
        Build latrines and a pila for the new kindergarten
        Bring power to the new kinder
 
 
    Thanks Skopion Jewelry, New Orleans, Louisiana and Vanisia Thomas!!!
    Starting Sunday, September 1, 2013 Skorpion Jewelry will donate 50% of all profit to Hands for Honduras.
 
    For the last 5 years there has been a influx of the Honduran population in the United States; into Louisiana. Due to the drug trade, rising murder rates, financial cut backs by neighboring countries......the United States is the way to a better life.
    The Skorpion Jewelry Team has asked all of you to give back. Come by Jazz Dix Market every Sunday from 7am to 5pm (September 1st - September 29) to be apart of a movement. Enjoy a family atmospere, Latin cuisine, Culture, Honduran Gifts, Music & More.
     Remember, Blessings run in a circle!
 
    Plans for next year:
 
        I am applying for a Rotary Global grant to construct a water system for Barrio Eduardo--dam, sediment filter, chlorination system, 1.8 kilometers of pipeline, and possibly a new 50,000 gallon water tank.  It will serve 4000 residents who currently receive water every ten days.
            We need to raise (Paul Harris Fellowship eligible) $10,900.00 through donations without the new tank or $20,400.00 with the new tank...and comparable Rotary District funds.

 I am in the process of putting together a list of participants to provide matchng funds for a Global Grant from the Rotary Foundation to provide a reliable, chlorinated water supply to 4000 residents in Barrio Eduardo Castiloo in Trujillo, Honduras.  Currently, the residents receive water every ten days.

 
    They currently have a leaky 30,000 gallon tank and their current water source is not enough to provide a daily water supply for its residents.  The plan envisions a dam on a reliable river source 1.8 kilometers away...repairs to the old tank and, if funding allows, an additional new 50,000 gallon tank.  The system would have a chlorination system that would provide a  proper supply of chlorine to the system...not just guestimations as is often the case with water systems in Trujillo....if they even bother using their chlorinators.  The community has agreed to provide all labor costs and locally available materials (sand, gravel, dirt).  A European non-profit, Fucagua, has agreed to provide 10% of the total project costs.
 
    The project has several parts:
 
                                                                                The community                                        Our costs                    Fucagua                      The city              Total costs @ 20.2829 conversion of lempira budget
 
A new dam                                 $2,268.14                                                   $444.41                     $301.40                          0                         $3,013.95
 
Sediment filtration system            $1,623.67                                                  $521.85                     $238.39                           0                         $2,383.91
 
Pipeline                                      $20,162.80                                            $35,429.15                    $6,176.93                         0                        $61,768.88
 
Repair old tank                                  0                                                            0                                   0                        $8,000.00                  $8,000.00
 
Chlorination system
w/control room                               0                                                     $1,711.97                        $190.22                         0                         $1,902.19
 
w/out new tank                            $24,054.61                                            $38,107.38                   $6,906.94                   $8,000.00                   $77,068.93
 
New tank                                     $11,581.18                                            $33,198.06                  $4,975.48                           0                        $49,754.72
 
W/new tank                                 $35,635.79                                            $71,305.44                  $11,882.42                 $8,000.00                    $126,823.65
 
   
                                                                             Local funds                                            District funds                        Rotary Foundation                           Total
 
W/out new tank                       $10,900.00                                            $10,900.00                             $16,350.00                                $38,150.00
 
W/new tank                            $20,400.00                                             $20,400.00                             $30,600.00                                $71,400.00
 
    So....we either need to raise $10,900.00 in club or private donations and $10,900.00 in matches from our districts to complete a project without a new tank or $20,400.00 in club and private donations and $20,400.00 matched by Districts.  The former is very doable....and the latter could possibly be a future Global grant.  It will all be based on the response of everyone.
 

The final completion of the Barrio San Martin and Cristales water systems...including a well pump, control room, and sand and gravel for the filtration t

2 classrooms in Ocotes Altos...213 students

 A kinder in Colonia Eduardo Vindel
 Two more classrooms in Ilanga Viejo
        Final budget under "construction".
 
    Recent donors:
 
        Ben Davidson another $50.00 from the sale of one of his cutting boards
        $150 from the Sebasopol, California Rotary Club for a plaque at the Barrio Capiro water tank
        $250.00 from Ed Seeger...$200 of that was actually donated via paypal in January...but I missed it until now
        $50.00 in honor of the Bar Mitzvah of Henry Gluckman by his parents--Cranston, RI
        $200.00 for the purchase of a purse made by a Microloan participant by Mary McBride, Tarrytown, NY
        $500.00 by Corpus Christi Southside (Texas) Rotary Club
        $200.00 by Richard Alexander, Alma, Wisconsin
 
        Texas, Rhode Island, New York, Wisconsin, California...and Skorpion Jewelry in Louisiana, and Vermont and New Hampshire and Montana and Virginia....we are a national organization.  Thanks to all.
 
    Volunteers to date for next February:
 
        Pam and Mark Moskal, Kearsarge, New Hampshire
        Karina Alberto, Trujillo, Honduras
        Tom Plumb, Laguna Vista, Texas
        Lincoln Oviedo, Linden, Virginia--not confirmed....
        Leslie Galipeau and her youngest son, Weybridge, Vermont
        Tim Hollander, Middlebury, Vermont
        Sam Rickenbaugh, Bozeman, Montana
 
 
      
  
 Please consider donating to Hands to Honduras!!
 
Send tax deductible donations to:
 
Hands to Honduras, Inc.
P.O. Box 1733
Port Isabel, Texas 78578
 
Thanks!!!!!
 
 
HANDS TO HONDURAS
 
TRUJILLO
 
2014 UPDATE
 
Contact Information: Tom Plumb, 956-346-5595
tplumb@rgv.rr.com
 
Our sixteenth year!!!
 
Hands to Honduras, Inc. was granted tax exempt status by the IRS covering donations to Hands to Honduras effective April 7, 2008...this includes transportation fees. The IRS number is 26-2385107.
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has exempted us from the Texas franchise and sales taxes.
 
Mail tax deductible donations and $125.00 transportation fees to:
 
Hands to Honduras, Inc.
PO Box 1733
Port Isabel, Texas 78578
 
TENTATIVE 2013 DATES
 
February 12-February 21, 2014
February 21-March 1, 2014