We are the joint collegiate chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) for Florida A&M University and Florida State University. For those of you who don't know, EWB is an international organization that engineers sustainable solutions for developing communities that lack basic human needs (i.e. water, food, shelter).
Our current project is a schoolhouse in the Guatemalan community of La Cantun II. The community has a one-room schoolhouse for 27 students, grades 1-5, that is made of bamboo sticks, tarps, and lamina. There's an outhouse with no door and no handwashing station. Our goal is to design a replacement school with 2 classrooms, a kitchen/office, a bathroom and a handwashing station. Our first trip to the community is planned for THIS DECEMBER, the 9th through the 16th. We'll assess the community's condition, meet the families, and obtain data needed to engineer the schoolhouse. After this trip we will design the schoolhouse and, once approved by headquarters, return to La Cantun II to build the schoolhouse with help from the community!
EWB projects operate as such: we, the local chapter, are responsible for 95% of costs and the community is responsible for the remaining 5%, which is their "investment" in its future success. This schoolhouse will cost approximately $20,000 to complete, so we have a lot of fundraising to do! We seek funds in many places, including grants, local businesses, and our academic departments. But we need your help, too!
In order for us to make this schoolhouse a reality, we need to get to Guatemala. Funding for the school is tight, and most of our fundraising goes towards that big project cost. That leaves little room for travel expenses. We want to raise at least $1000 to reimburse a team of 4 EWB student members traveling to La Cantun II. They are currently paying for travel expenses out of pocket. We would truly appreciate any help you can provide, even if it's simply passing our story along. Your contribution will help us build a safe learning environment for the children of La Cantun II. You'll also help a hard-working team of college students gain real-world engineering experience and see a project come to life!
Thank you so much for your time and consideration, and please share our story!