blog
Hope Shines Participates in Giving Tuesday
Tweet On behalf of the many volunteers of Hope Shines I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and enjoyed time with family and friends. I wanted to take a moment to tell you about a new initiative that can potentially help Hope Shines as well as countless other non-profits throughout the United States. [...]
Fall Gathering in Support of our Tutoring Program. Please join us!
Tweet Our next event has been scheduled! Join us for a Fall Harvest Festival on Thursday, November 1, 2012 at Little Town, Little Town, 366 West 46th Street, New York, NY from 6:00 – 9:00pm. Enjoy drink specials and an opportunity to support Hope Shines' 6-month tutoring program. We hope to see you on November [...]
What does $75 pay for? A whole lot!
Tweet Nowadays, $75 does not get you very far…but Hope Shines sure knows how to streeeeeeeetch a dollar! For $75, you can provide 1 child with 6 months of tutoring! You will be helping them learn through creative activities like they do in our annual camps, get help with their homework and have a healthy [...]
Producers and Consumers!
Tweet > Hope Shines has evolved to not only teaching math, English and science but we are trying to incorporate skills with which the children could earn a living. Yesterday was our sewing lesson. Today we come full circle and teach producers and consumers!!! > > > Posted via email
College T-Shirt Day!
Tweet > > During the course of the week we are always getting the kids to come out of their shells and learn new things! > > Here’s a pic of some of our girls, during “college t-shirt day” (all the vols wear their college T-shirts, instead of the Hope Shines T, and they all [...]
Sewing Day! 2nd Year of this Vocational Skill.
Tweet > > Our seamstresses for the day! The kids actually got to use the machines this year. It’s amazing what they learn and remember. We did this activity for the first time last year and this year too. The kids were so skilled and it took NO TIME at all to learn and remember [...]
Nutrition and Healthy Living
Tweet Day 3 of Hope Shines CSC 2012 is in the books and it amazes me that the first camps are more than halfway through! It seems like I just arrived in Kigali! Yesterday was packed full of activities from learning about thunderstorms to how we can keep ourselves healthy to grow BIG and STRONG [...]
Hope Shines Spotlights Volunteers
Tweet Going from Hope Shines Medical and Hygiene Consultant to Hope Shines Camp Director 2012 couldn’t have been more seamless thanks to my amazing volunteers! For the past 3 years I, Stephanie Chu, have traveled to Rwanda and been the medical “person” for Hope Shines and mentor to the orphans at CSC (Child Support Center). [...]
Hope Shines Camps 2012 Day One and YOUR SUPPORT!
Tweet Written By Dr Stephanie Chu: Hope Shines 2012 Rwanda has started out with a bang! After I finally arrive at 1AM on 16 July the day before camps started I am pretty settled into my "home away from home in the summers" and camp today was awesome! The kids received their shirts and water [...]
Announcing our 2012 Official Camp T-Shirt designed by Virginia Tech Student, Riley Sixta!
Tweet Our official 2012 Camp T-Shirt is here! Hope Shines once again partnered with the Apparel Design Department at Virginia Tech. Design students were given the chance to enter the contest. The winning design was chosen by our panel of esteemed judges from Macys.com, Damsels in Design, Aeropostale and Monique Lhuillier. Our winner, Riley Sixta, [...]
Planning for this Summer’s Camps
Tweet The Hope Shines curriculum committee met in early January to plan the Summer 2012 program, and the team worked well into the evening to develop project-based learning activities that will spark the campers’ natural curiosity and joy. Hope Shines remains committed to our motto of keeping children “healthy, happy, and fed”; central to that [...]
“I want to be a hairdresser”
Tweet There is a young woman here, Emma (not her real name) whom I have know since 2008. She is part of CSC (Child support center). She recently dropped out of secondary school…she was failing her classes. She does not want to go back to school and, instead, got a job in a salon, sweeping, [...]
Holiday Party at SINIPISI
Tweet I just left from the Hope Shines holiday party at SINIPISI, an orphanage we help to support w/ 100 kids. We gave to each child a pretty bowl, pencil, notebook and soap. Girls got bracelets. Boys got balls. Teeny tiny kids got stacking rings. We also gave 4 basketballs, sets of blocks and jump [...]
Holiday Parties in Rwanda!
Tweet I’m here safe and sound in Rwanda, Africa and am ready to start shopping for gifts for our kids! Gifts were donated and shipped from VA for the 50 kids at CSC (children’s support center) now I need to buy for the 100 at SINAPRISI! We only have a small amount of money to [...]
Today…was a good day!
Tweet Hope Shines has many good days…but today was a banner one. To recap all that occurred, because it's almost unbelievable, a list must be created. This list is in no preferential order, for EVERY SINGLE donation is extremely meaningful! *At the Damsels In Design Holiday Party, a raffle was held to benefit Hope Shines: $131 was [...]
Holiday Spirit is “Present”
Tweet Over the last few weeks people have been collecting presents and supplies for us to bring to our kids in Rwanda. People have donated their time and their Holiday parties by asking guests to bring goodies/gifts for the kids instead of a hostess gift or food. Two huge boxes of toys and school supplies [...]
TedEx Talk Today!
Tweet Our Executive Director and Founder, April Riegler, is speaking at the TedEx forum at the Hewitt School in NYC today! Such an honor! She’s excited to share how we started and the activities we do with our kids in Rwanda. Her talk about “play and learn.” April kicks things off at 10am. All talks [...]
Last Night’s Event!
Tweet Last night we had the pleasure of hosting an event at SideBar on 15th and Irving in NYC where 15% of the total bar tab from 6-9pm was donated to Hope Shines. Thanks to everyone who came! These bar events are so fun and casual where everyone mixes and mingles. We had over 50 [...]
Sample of our Curriculum: Go Fly a Kite!
Tweet I want to share a small portion of the many many many lessons we teach to the kids. This year we are making kites with the kids and tying it into an Earth Science lesson about Wind! We had an amazing donor ask what type of comprehensive craft we would like with all of the [...]
HOPE SHINES YOGA FUNDRAISER!
Tweet We are THRILLED to announce that Hope Shines will be hosting its first Outdoor Yoga Fundraiser. The class will be held on August 4th, 2011, on the Great Lawn in Central park at 7:00 pm for a cool breeze and a beautiful sunset with views of Turtle Pond and Belvedere Castle. August 4th is a [...]
A PENNY EARNED IS A PENNY EARNED!
Tweet We discovered a simple way for you to help support Hope Shines by doing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary and which may even save you money. (Yes, karma is REAL!). Just download the GoodSearch – Hope Shines toolbar at http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/hope-shines Each time you search the web with GoodSearch's Yahoo-powered search engine, a penny will go to [...]
Virginia Tech Student Designs our 2011 Camp T-Shirt!
Tweet Every summer for our camps in Rwanda, we design T-Shirts and give them to all of our kids (this year will be over 170!) and to our fabulous volunteers, who help to run our camps! But this year we wanted to do something a little different. We wanted to give a little-known design program [...]
Hope Shines 1st Annual Fundraiser Splash in COLORADO!
Tweet Want to purchase tickets online? Click here to purchase tickets! In regards to the mosquito net purchase, we will buy them in Rwanda. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Want to purchase tickets online? CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR TICKETS!
The Generosity of Forgiveness; Remembering 1994.
Tweet This month, Rwanda is in the throes of remembering, mourning, forgiving and persevering. It is the 17th anniversary of 1994 Genocide. Many of my friends and colleagues lost loved ones during this time. My heart goes out to them so that they may continue to heal and look forward to Rwanda's bright future. Let us take a moment [...]