Blog Archives - Page 17 of 73 - Shoulder to Shoulder, Inc.

May 9, 2021August 23, 2023

Letter of Thanks from a Scholarship Student

By Laura Manship – Executive Director

Scholarship Recipient D.A.

Dear Supporters of StS’ Scholarship Program:The letter below was written by one of the students in our scholarship program. It has been translated from Spanish into English. When I read what D.A. wrote, it made me realize how very important these scholarship funds are to the students.

D.A. is writing to YOU — to thank you for helping her, and all the other students, to stay in school.

Dear Donor:

I hope that everything is very well with you and your family, I hope that God will bless your life.

I want to tell you that thank God I have been able to advance with my studies. We have had a very difficult year in the face of so many situations that have occurred in Honduras, but we trust in God that this year to come will be better and above all be very productive. I am close to finishing the third and last academic term of this year. I am grateful to God and to you because I am getting closer to my goal. I have advanced very well and without your support none of this would be possible.

I want to tell you that everything is fine with my family. I take this opportunity to wish you a bright Christmas, full of joy and love. Also, a New Year full of light and hope. May this year’s achievements be the seeds to be planted and harvested with enormous success for years to come. Merry Christmas and happy holidays! I end by sending you a very affectionate goodbye.

Sincerely: D.A.

April 26, 2021August 3, 2023

Delivering Eggs During a Pandemic

By Laura Manship – Executive Director

Vicenta, Granddaughter, and Hens

Dear Friends:In the photo above, you will see a very happy business woman. Vicenta raises chickens and sells the eggs to Shoulder to Shoulder (StS). StS then provides the eggs to mothers who have children between the ages of 6 months and 2 years. Vicente is happy because the project allows her to bring in much needed income for her family.

We are in the 4th month of our project, and are thrilled with our progress so far! Celebrate our successes with us:

25 women are raising hens.
Provided micro-loans to 15 of the women, to help with start-up costs (total of $3200)
Twice per month, 15 eggs are given out to 285 children (total of 8,550 eggs per month)
At the end of each month, StS reimburses the women who are raising the hens (total of $1100)
We are working with a professor at the University of Indiana, who is studying the effects of eating an egg per day. We have enrolled 285 children in this study. In addition, we have enrolled 200 children into a control group. The study will continue until January 2022.

This project is a WIN-WIN-WIN:

The CHILDREN eat healthy eggs.

The WOMEN receive income from their hens.

The COMMUNITY benefits from the infusion of money StS pays the women.

THANK YOU to all of our supporters. This project would not exist if not for your belief in it and your support.

Laura

Mothers and Children in StS Nutrition Project

February 20, 2021August 3, 2023

Interns from the Leadership Center

By Katherine, Dania, and Eva – Leadership Center Interns

Katherine, Dania, and Eva

Hello, we are Katherine, Dania and Eva. We graduated from The Leadership Center as bilingual in Leadership and Community Development. In our time there we learned that community development is about people, not projects. By thinking in a different way, we know we can help in our communities.When we learned about Shoulder to Shoulder’s mission and vision, we believed that by doing our internship with the organization we would receive new experiences and develop our knowledge on how to be a teacher and work with children.

Throughout the pandemic, the experience of teaching has been difficult and we have faced some challenges. Still, we consider and see that our classes have been active, regardless if they are virtual or in a classroom. The desire of the students and parents to learn, showed us that everything is possible in these difficult times, no matter the sacrifice. The support that each parent is giving to their children to be successful is one thing that surprised us because students’ education did not stop.

What we wanted was to give our students the opportunity to learn from us through encouragement, by listening to them, making them feel welcome and feel important to us. Also, by sharing our experiences that can help them in the future. Even though times are not easy, we have been motivating them to not give up!

We are thankful with God for the time we had to do our internship with Shoulder to Shoulder, for the opportunity they gave us to share and learn from them. To the teachers for supporting us. To the students for the beautiful times that we shared together, and to the parents for supporting their children. We advise future interns to do things with passion, love, encouragement and to believe in the organization. To put themselves in a child’s mind and enjoy the time while they are doing their internship. We believe Shoulder to Shoulder is a great organization to work with, providing opportunities to develop our communities and help the education.