Author: Mariela Rodriguez

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Giving Tuesday Update

We want to thank YOU for joining the global celebration of generosity during last week’s Giving Tuesday campaign. We are excited to share that with your help we raised $3,600 and GlobalGiving matched your donations, giving a grand total of $4,873 ($1,100 for education, $1,100 for scholarships and $1,400 for nutrition)!

In 2024 we will continue impacting our communities and:

  • expand robotics and STEM education to preschoolers and youth
  • provide more scholarships and graduate low-resource high school students
  • give more eggs to children at risk of malnutrition

In this last month of 2023 we express gratitude for your continued support to Shoulder to Shoulder and the communities we serve. Thank you for sharing your light, passion and kindness.

We wish you all happy holidays and may your wishes for 2024 come true!

Sincerely,

Shoulder to Shoulder team

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Imaginative Lego Minds

Dear Donor,

Happy Giving Tuesday! This past year, your support helped expand STEM education and programming in the frontera of Honduras. Today only, GlobalGiving is matching donations around the world as part of their #MoveAMillion campaign. The more we raise, the more we get from the $1.2 MILLION in bonus funds.

On Friday we wrote about the LEGO gift that keeps giving. Thanks to donor generosity, we received 16 kits which allowed us to expand our branches, reach new communities, and add new teams to our 2023 competition. But they weren’t just any teams, they were teams of tiny humans! Simultaneous to the general matches happening, preschool teams brought their imaginations to life in a free-build contest. Our community members had never seen anything like it and their minds were blown away by the abilities of our youngest minds.

Building through Imagination
Taking strides towards sustainability, the AMFI mayor association assisted Shoulder to Shoulder in organizing the regional competition this year. All teams (high school and preschool) showed amazing skills and demonstrated continued STEM learning. Robotics programming historically was not accessible in our region. Since 2017, we have created robotics opportunities for junior and senior high schools; in 2023, we expanded to include preschools. We think this program is incredibly special! We need your help to keep spreading interest for robotics in our region.

Minsis (StS Assistant Director) with our smallest participants

Today is your chance to get your gift matched and start a wave of good. Because on Giving Tuesday, you’re not just donating—you’re joining a global celebration of generosity. Share this message with your family and friends: together, we can make a difference for Honduran children living in the frontera. Your donation will help us purchase more LEGO kits and continue expanding our robotics program.
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The LEGO Gift that Keeps Giving

One year ago, donors Sally and her students, sorted, packaged and sent LEGO kits down to Honduras.

With their support, we assisted our regional LEGO teams in preparing for that year’s competition. Since there were kits still remaining in 2023, our team had an idea. They released an announcement to our learning comunities — We would accept formal requests and the kits would be gifted, in order of submission!

Our hope was to increase accessibility of LEGOS to a region with limited resources, and simultaneously grow interest in STEM education. There was such a positive response that we had to close the submissions. Among the beneficiaries were elementary schools, preschools, worship communities and high schools. Everyone was so excited as the majority of the kids and youth had never interacted with LEGOS. Nevertheless, we received may pictures of smiling students. We were most amazed by the creations of the smallest hands, our preschoolers, that we decided to include 5 teams in our 2023 Regional LEGO competition!

Sally and her students’ generosity has truly been a gift that keeps giving. It has given access to a world of robotics and STEM education to communities with limited resources, including some very small hands.

We will have more details on the LEGO competition for GivingTuesday, November 28th. Mark your calendars and check your inbox for Shoulder to Shoulder’s email! 

More to come!

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