In November of 2018, Alex Ray joined Honduras Hope for an unforgettable trip to the Yoro region of Honduras.
Honduras Hope is a small nonprofit based in New Hampshire that works in several impoverished communities in rural Honduras. Thanks to Becky Carey at Dartmouth College, a friend of Honduras Hope board member Alex Ray, HH was connected with LuminAID. LuminAID co-founder, Anna Stork, studied engineering as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College, and has remained an active member of the Dartmouth community. The following is an excerpt from a November 19th press release issued by Honduras Hope:
“Ray remembered LuminAID from a request Carey had made the year before for help in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria that resulted in Ray delivering cases of their unique inflatable lanterns to areas that went without power for months. This month he called LuminAID again and asked if they would be willing to donate those same lanterns, this time to the rural communities of San Jose de Machigua and Plan Grande, in the Yoro region of Honduras. Not only did LuminAID give an immediate yes, they shipped the lanterns overnight for the trip to Honduras later that very week.
As they do every quarter, Honduras Hope board members and friends traveled to their sister communities in the mountains of Honduras, this time with LuminAID lanterns in tow, for villages that have never had power. HH Coordinator Bill Briggs and Alex Ray distributed the inflatable solar lanterns to the Patronato – the community councils that govern each village. Rosa, Munchomurio, and Nicolas of San Jose de Machigua and Anita of Plan Grande gratefully received the lantern donations on behalf of their communities and are organizing their use at community buildings for evening health care, schooling and tutoring, and other needs. They are also developing a lending program for families to be able to use the lanterns for reading and study at night. The communities were enthusiastic and grateful for the illumination!
Honduras Hope extends its thanks to LuminAID for donating something as tangible as light in communities where it gets dark by 6 at night and for being such cheerful and responsive sponsors. Honduras Hope is a 501(c)3 non-profit supporting health, education, and entrepreneurship in rural Honduras. Find out more or donate at www.hondurashope.org.”
The following photos and captions tell the story of the impact LuminAID's solar lights, and Honduras Hope's trip had on their sister communities.
Members of Honduras Hope during their November 2018 visit, having dinner in Yoro before heading up to San Jose de Machigua the following day.
Munchomurio and Nicolas show the LuminAID donated lantern lighting up the hallway in the health clinic in San Jose de Machigua. The clinic is one of two building constructed by Honduras Hope and the community, the only two buildings with concrete walls and floors. The community sits high in the mountains above Yoro in Central Honduras and has never had electricity. It is dark by 6PM each night, so illumination will help the community have emergency services at night. Munchomurio and Nicolas are members of the Patronato – the community’s governing body. They committed to creating a program to lend out the lanterns to families for chores and study in the evenings.
“All in all it was a great trip, made significantly more productive by giving our sister communities real help with light for their community buildings and homes.” - Alex Ray, Honduras Hope Board Member
Rosa is the president of the Patronato in San Jose de Machigua, like the village mayor. She took her community’s new LuminAID lantern into her home to try out the lantern for the first time. She was very excited to have light! “Gracias a LuminAID y a Honduras Hope!”
Anita is the president of the Patronato in Plan Grande, outside of Yoro, Honduras, and is a program leader for Honduras Hope and her community. She received LuminAID lanterns on behalf of her community and tried one out at the community center during Honduras Hope’s visit in November.
