BonaResponds Post Spring Break Update

* We are back from our spring break trip to Dallas Texas.  If you missed out, you missed lots of hard work, but also fun (North Texas Irish Festival, a tour and trip to Fort Worth), good food, and most importantly meeting some great new friends while helping people recover from a disaster.  A huge thank you to everyone who helped and went on the trip! Hundreds of pictures available here and here.

* A Thank you to Jim Cochran in Buffalo!  Not only did he distribute 30+ @WarmSnugglyblankets, but he also arranged to have them given to those getting chemo at CCS oncology.  In one move, Jim solved many of our distribution problems for WSB!  (remember, if you know of someone with cancer, let us know and we can send a blanket in your name!)  (look for thank-yous for those who have been making blankets in the coming week!)

* As mentioned before the Dallas trip, we aim to help plant 3000 trees in Haiti.  Have been in contact with @TreeAngelsforHaiti and Onel in the past week.  We will be back in touch on this shortly. Stay tuned.

* Let there be sun!  Thanks to Rob Granger, Pierce Steel, and Mike Ellman we now have solar electric (to charge cordless drills etc) and lights in our trailer!  This will allow us to see!  Improves safety, efficiency, and MAYBE even neatness!  

* Our first online #BonasandBeyond program starts this week. It is a 6-week course in economic foundations. It is free. If you have not signed up, please do so! http://goo.gl/forms/WnjZXxi871 we have about 20 people signed up so far. It is set to go live on Tues March 8. So sign up today!

* We are getting the first of the updates from the money we sent to the winners in the #BonasandBeyond program’s presentations for capital to help Haiti.  Heard from Djemson that the harvest has started of beans that will be sold to help fund orphanage and school for the 17 children under his care.  Also, the Little Garden program is going well!  We look forward to hearing from the others soon.  

* In response to the movie Poverty.Inc, I was asked about our solar program in Haiti.  Yes, we buy the solar units from Haitian suppliers.  So we are helping in a way that does not hurt their economy.  If we can raise $1500 by International Service Day (April 9-10) we will be able to install solar electric in another school!  

* Wesley is starting a BonaResponds program at his school in Leogane Haiti.  I am THRILLED by this. It will work like this (I think):  once a month school children will work (on a Saturday) on a project that makes Haiti better.  We will be partially funding it and providing lunch for the volunteers.  It is a great win:win:win program.  The students learn the importance of giving back and they learn new skills.  Those that are helped are made better off.  And the local Haitian economy is helped by the purchase of food etc for the program.  

* Onel is looking to buy/make BonaResponds t-shirts in Haiti for a large tree planting day there. Stay tuned. Not sure how much we can economically justify but we will be doing something for the volunteers there.

* Soccer in Les Cayes is starting up again this month after a break.  Look for pictures soon from Rochelin.  We are still looking to buy a lawnmower in Haiti for them.  Proving to be 1000 times more difficult than I expected.  

* On March 19 we are working with CYC on a local wheelchair ramp.  It should go VERY fast with the two groups working together.  On March 13 we will be prepping for it.  Plan on coming out to help on both days! (Saturday we are off this weekend due to Open house on campus and interviewing Business Dean Candidates).

* Remember, April 9-10 is International Service Weekend.  PLAN AN EVENT in your country, city, neighborhood.  http://bonaresponds.org/isd.html

INTERNATIONAL SERVICE DAY

BonaResponds is sponsoring an International Service Weekend this year which will take place Saturday April 9th and Sunday April 10th. A whole weekend of good deeds and volunteering! International Service Weekend is when we ask people locally and around the world to go make the world a better place AND to share what they did.

Help those who need the help (we are all in need of help in some way), to show that problems are not insurmountable (together we can solve them), to remind everyone that we all have some skills that can be used to help others, and most importantly, to have fun.

Here are some examples of easy ways you can participate in International Service Weekend:

1. Clean up a local park
2. Read to students in a local school/community center
3. Pick up trash along a trail
4. Volunteer at or Donate to a food pantry
5. Help clean up an elderly neighbor’s yard
6. Visit someone in a nursing home
7. Help someone you know who needs a helping hand
8. Invite a lonely neighbor over for dinner
9. Etc., etc.

It is really that simple. Do a good deed and share it!

You can participate alone or with any sized group. We are open to anyone and willing to work with everyone. So go get involved; volunteer and change the world!   

Feel free to sign up or read more information about this event on our webpage:  http://bonaresponds.org/isd.html Watch for updates via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and our website: www.bonaresponds.org. Please tag us using #BonaReponds on your social media updates, reflections, photos, etc. or email us at BonaResponds@gmail.com. Thank You!!!

January 2016 update

Hi everyone!

A fast update on many BonaResponds things:

1. Thank you to our donors who are investing in a better world! December was our best month of fundraising ever!   It is you who give us the ability to help so many.  Without you, BonaResponds is just a good idea.  Without you, many people suffer.  Without you, there are fewer wheelchair ramps, fewer people in schools in Haiti, fewer trees, and much more.   Our, indeed my, promise to you is that we will continue to use the money in a manner that will maximize the long-run good that we can achieve!  
2. February 17, 2016 at 7pm in The Dresser Auditorium of the Murphy Building we will be co-sponsoring with Enactus and the Pacioli Scholar program a viewing of Poverty Inc.  It is an important video that questions how charity is handled.  The short version is that handouts are not the best and that good intentions are not enough.  Watch the trailer and plan on coming.  Free tickets are available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poverty-inc-st-bonaventure-university-tickets-20910800768
3. International Service Weekend is April 9-10!  No matter where you live, plan on being involved.  Start planning now!  Clean up a local park, help your elderly neighbor to the grocery store, organize a work day in your town/country!  Big or small together we can make a huge difference!   SIgn ups and more information will be available soon!  We want to capture 24 hours of good deeds and good work around the world!  Too often all we see is the bad news!  
4. Our local job list is really long (too long).  The combination of being underpriced and a lack of volunteers really led to a backlog.  We can not do ramps in this weather, but are prebuilding sections and will hit the ground running ASAP.  In the interim, we do have work days planned for every weekend.  
5. We still have approximately 40 blankets that need labels sewn on.  If anyone would like to help in this area, please let us know.  We packed 24 blankets this weekend for Roswell and the Kevin Guest House in Buffalo.  I am often asked how someone could help in this area (interestingly we get many more requests to help with Blankets than with Trails/Ramps/homes/Haiti etc)  Find places (doctors offices, chemo centers, or even churches) that we can put up “boxes” of blankets (wrapped in plastic) so that we do not mail out each separately.  Also agree to keep them full (we will get you the blankets).
6. Jim’s Haiti trip over Christmas break was canceled due to violence stemming from their elections, but our work has picked up speed again there.  Last week we got the first of the Reforestation booklets from our good friends at Tree Angels for Haiti. Very exciting to see the booklets actually produced.  The next step is to get them distributed and work with them (and others across Haiti) to not only plant more trees but to make the program sustainable.
7. The first round of payments out of the #BonasandBeyond program should be finished this week.  We had a long wait for the funds from SIMM.  But in total $4000 payments will be disbursed.  This is the money we and Enactus won from the Online voting contest that BonaSIMM used to give away their profits. (good thing we got them then given the way the stock market has been doing since!)   If you remember, these recipients in Haiti presented on campus on how they could make Haiti better.  Winners were a Gardening program in Gonaives, a “green charcoal” program in Leogane, a micro-loan program in Gonaives, a school program and a science kit program in Port au Prince, and partial funding for a water program in Cap Haitien.
8. We are still trying to buy a lawnmower in Haiti for the soccer program Rochelin runs in Les Cayes.  I had no idea buying a lawnmower would prove so difficult.  Have had many people looking for one for months.  
9. Business is needed in Haiti.  For that reason, Positive Ripples has been formed.  It is not officially part of BonaResponds but its own newly formed not-for-profit that will better enable us to make small investments in businesses.  For instance the first loan we are trying to make is to Normil in Leogane.  He has to shut down his internet cafe for 10 hours a week when he goes to get his batteries charged.  We are going to given him a 2 year loan to enable solar electric to power some of his computers.  Similarly we will be working with a Haitian group (via Emmanuel our long time partner) in Les Cayes to fund women their with smaller micro loans (our initial investment will be $1000 and students here will be helping with consulting, social media, and teaching Haitians how to create their own websites).
10. Two different groups have asked to host volunteer camps on campus over the summer.  This is very difficult as students and faculty are largely gone.  If you have interest in being a leader for a week this summer (non paid) please let us know.
11. We hope to announce another Bonas and Beyond program on campus for this coming September-October.  
12. The Enactus trip I made to the Bahamas (non BonaResponds trip) has me convinced that there are many many opportunities to work with Enactus on projects near and far.  Here is a podcast of my talk with student leaders after the trip: https://media.zencast.fm/st-bonaventure-school-of-business
13. Last and my no means least....upcoming trips. I had hoped to announce a major 10th year reunion trip this year, but I do not think it will happen.  We may go to New Orleans (spoke yesterday with Habitat that has jobs there), but getting a large number of alumni there MAY be difficult.  So, mark down the first week in March and stay tuned.  We will try to go somewhere.  Also get your passport!  POSSIBLE trip after graduation: Jamaica or Costa Rica.  POSSIBLE--cost will be about $1000 each.  Alternatively, some (a small number) could join me for a likely NON approved trip to Haiti.  

Thanks again everyone!  

jim

Key dates:

Wed. Feb 17: Poverty Inc viewing on campus

First week of March: Spring Break Trip

April 9-10: International Service Weekend!

Update on things

English: Satellite image showing deforestation in Haiti. This image depicts the border between Haiti (left) and the Dominican Republic (right). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

from our FaceBook group:

Update on things:

* Several jobs lined up for today (Saturday 10:35). Mostly inside (-14F the last I looked), but some outside work if it warms up to positive teens smile emoticon Big job is a new floor for a bathroom in Allegany county. (Sunday 11:20-- it will be tarping a roof I THINK). Relax, the roof is low.

* Thanks to the "Hurt Jim's Wallet" campaign, it was a good fundraising week that will allow us to make more WarmSnugglyBlankets(Thanks to Jim C!!) and also support the gardening and tree planting in Haiti. So THANK YOU ALL!!

* The order for new patches for blankets still has not come. I am getting worried. Tried checking on it by phone and email and no answer.

* April 11-12 International Service Weekend still taking shape. We spoke or texted with several people from Haiti, one in Bangladesh, and one from Charlotte yesterday about being involved. Would love others involved! Alumni groups? Churches? Other Schools? Past leaders? Remember: big or small. You can organize a small day for a group of friends, your work team, or just yourself. Clean up a park, teach English, visit a nursing home, paint a school room, or any of a million other things. Key idea is to make the world a little better, one person at a time. AND be a role model by sharing what you do so that others can follow your lead. (more info athttp://www.bonaresponds.org/isd.html

* Good news from Bishop Nelson in Liberia. The rent is paid! So they can now start worrying about making the orphans more at home in their new surroundings. Nelson and his crew are truly doing great work. Hats off to them!

* WRT garden or tree programs in Haiti, we heard from Onel (@TreesforLifeinHaiti), Djemson (OHAPCH), Wesley (CJM), and Rochelin (@Harvesting4Haiti) this past week. All are proceeding very well. Will be speaking with Sandra (TreeangesforHaiti) on Sunday evening to see how we can all work together more efficiently. TreeAngelsforHaiti have a big project planned in May, but alas it is during our finals as I would like to be there to help.

* We had a very good meeting with a group of new leaders on Friday afternoon. Have student leaders for soccer collections, a new local leader (each local leader will be responsible for one day per month--being the site leader, helping to get volunteers etc), and a couple of new HaitiScholarships' marketing and website plans. All in all a very productive late Friday afternoon!

* We did check into helping in Bradford PA this past week when a state of emergency was declared for a broken water line, but we were not needed.

Thanks everyone!! Get involved! Volunteer and Change the World!