Title: Attend the 2nd Annual '$20,000 Dance Party', October 18, 2009
Date: 09/28/2009
Story:
Annual '$20,000 Dance Party', October 18, 2009
Host: Project Schoolhouse - Raising money to
build schools in Nicaragua
Austin, TX - Project Schoolhouse, an Austin based non-profit dedicated to building educational opportunities in rural areas of Latin America, will host a fundraising event at Copa Bar & Grill on October 18, 2000 from 7 PM – 12 AM. Project Schoolhouse hopes to raise $20,000 to fund construction of a new elementary school in village of ‘El Martillo’ in Nicaragua.
The $20,000 Dance Party will feature local Latin bands, dance classes, and community-provided food. Performers will include Charanga Cakewalk, Ritmo 3, Son 5, Seu Jacinto, Wino Vino, and Scarlet and the Jalapeños. These bands are well known in the Austin dance community for their infectious rhythms, authentic sounds, and high-energy performances. All of the performers are donating their time to benefit school building projects in Nicaragua.
Project Schoolhouse has a track record of successful grassroots projects, having built three elementary schools and three community water systems in the Matagalpa province of Nicaragua since 2007. Each project serves up to 100 children and 30 adults.
Recipient communities donate the required manual labor while Project Schoolhouse donates building supplies and provides skilled onsite supervision and instruction. Each Project Schoolhouse site includes the construction of a new elementary school, community water system, and new sanitation facilities.
The money raised from this event is integral to the realization of Project Schoolhouse’s 2010 goal of completing another school and water system. Due to the dramatic increase in Nicaraguan communities wanting to partner with Project Schoolhouse, there are currently six communities waiting to begin school building projects.
Copa Bar & Grill is located at 217 Congress Avenue and is a popular Austin venue for Latin and South American music, dancing, and cuisine. Doors will open at 6:45 P.M. Project Schoolhouse will collect a $20 donation at the door. Donations can also be made at www.20000dollardanceparty.eventbrite.com.
Event sponsors include Heineken, Books Beyond Borders, Esquina Tango, Taco Journalism, and Copa Bar & Grill, Eli & the Austin School of Music.
For more information contact Thomas Barker at 512-853-9565 or email info@projectschoolhouse.org with questions. You can also find us at www.projectschoolhouse.org.
Title: Pete Mehok's 24 hours for Nicaragua
Date: 04/03/2009
Story:
On Friday April 3rd at 7:30 begins Pete Mehok's 24 hour fundraiser to benefit school building in Nicaragua. He explains the event in the following letter that was posted on facebook. Good Luck Pete!
Dear Parents,
As some of you may know, I live an active
life-style, love all kinds of sports, especially long distance trail
running. In addition, I really enjoy helping others: a significant
reason why I ultimately chose a profession in education.
Since I
have graduated from college, I have tried to combine my deep passion
for running and helping others to benefit those around me. For example:
I have run the NY Marathon with two of my brothers to raise money for
“Ability Beyond Disability,” an organization that provides tremendous
support to those that have disabilities. It was probably the most
memorable run I have ever had for several reasons. First, we raised
over $7,500 and the majority of money went to the home where my sister
resided(she suffered from a traumatic brain injury almost 30 years
ago). Second, I ran with my brothers and it was their first marathon.
Finally, it was the first time I ran the NYC marathon-what an awesome
experience!
I am now a part of Team Traverse, which is a team
composed of a small group of dedicated, passionate individuals that run
with a purpose. Presently, our goal is to build a school from scratch
on the Island of Ometepe in Nicaragua with the help of Project
Schoolhouse. We need to raise around $40,000 and I think it would be
great for my students to be a part of accomplishing this goal.
I
have decided to challenge myself and my students in trying to work
towards making our goal a reality. I will be running/hiking up and down
the ½ mile hill on Jester Blvd off of 2222 as many times as possible in
a 24 hour period. My adventure will begin on Friday April 3rd at 7:30
p.m. and end on Saturday April 4th at 7:30 p.m. I have 4 classes and
each class will compete to see who can raise the most money. The class
that raises the most money will earn a pizza party and an additional
surprise. Parents and students are welcome to come watch, or even do a
few hill repeats with me.
Donations can be made in one of two
ways: 1) A check made out to “Project Schoolhouse.” Please put in the
memo, “Ometepe Project.” You can donate a flat amount or donate per
mile I complete. My goal is to complete at least 50 miles. 2) You can
donate online at http://www.projectschoolhouse.org/index.cfm?p=donate
Please
type “Ometepe Project” next to “Purpose.” If you donate online, please
send in a note confirming the amount you donated, so your child’s class
get’s credit towards their class total. All donations must be turned in
by Friday April 10th.
Thank you so much for your help and support!
-Mr. Mehok
Title: Attend the $20,000 Dance Party at Copa Bar & Grill - 7 - 12
Date: 11/14/2008
Story:
Austin, TX - Project Schoolhouse, an Austin-based non profit, dedicated to building educational opportunities in rural areas of Latin America, will host a fundraising event at Copa Bar & Grill on November 16, 2008 from 7 pm – 12 am. Project Schoolhouse hopes to raise $20,000 to fund the building of a much needed school in the remote village of El Aulo, Nicaragua.
The Project Schoolhouse Dance Party will feature six local Latin bands, dance classes, dance performances, and food. The purpose of the party is to raise $20,000 in one night to pay for the renovation of an entire school. Performers will include Austin’s premier salsa bands such as Ritmo 3, O-Positivo, and Son 5, as well as, Brazilian music from Austin’s Funk Brazil, The Crying Monkies, and Seu Jacinto. Salsa music will be on the indoor stage while the Brazilian genres will be outside. Both salsa and Brazilian bands are well known in the Austin dance community for their infectious rhythms, authentic sounds, and high-energy performances.
There will be dance performances by MoniTango, Xibuke Dance Company, and Street Salsa. For those interested in learning to dance Salsa, Rhonda Peters and Cesar Vargas will teach a salsa class at 7 pm.
Copa Bar & Grill is located at 217 Congress Ave and is a well-known Austin venue for Latin and South American music, dancing, and cuisine. Doors will open at 6:45 pm. Project Schoolhouse will collect a $20 donation at the door. There will be a silent auction and a book sale. Donations can also be made at www.20000dollardanceparty.eventbrite.com.
Project Schoolhouse has built two elementary schools in Nicaragua since 2007. The schools service 100 children and up to 30 adults. Each school is located in remote rural regions in Nicaragua. Nothing brings a community together like a well-constructed schoolhouse, a center of the community's identity. A village schoolhouse is the first structure in a community that can lead to improvements – in water systems and health initiatives and education. Project Schoolhouse has a track record of successful grassroots projects.
There has been a dramatic increase in proposals for partnerships from Nicaraguan communities. Six different communities are currently waiting for funding to begin schools built by Project Schoolhouse.
In 2009, Project Schoolhouse plans to build two more schools. Recipient communities are generally in remote locations without electricity or running water. Recipient communities donate the required manual labor while Project Schoolhouse donates building supplies and provides skilled supervision and instruction.
Each Project Schoolhouse site includes the installation of water systems and new sanitation facilities.
Event sponsors are Heineken, Half Price Books, Books Beyond Borders, Esquina Tango, Taco Journalism, Hot Mama’s, Copa Bar & Grill, Romeo’s, Austin Java, Casa, Feather’s Boutique.
For more information contact Thomas Barker at 512-853-9565 or email info@projectschoolhouse.org with questions. You can also find us at www.projectschoolhouse.org.
Title: New Project Starting in Nicaragua Read the Blog
Date: 02/19/2008
Story:
On Thursday February 21, 2008, Thomas Barker will head down to Nicaragua to work with staff and the recipient community on their new elementary school already under construction in 'El Aulo' Nicaragua. This community resides some three hour bus ride from Rio Blanco, Nicaragua. The three room schoolhouse has been under construction since mid-january and is nearing the middle of its contruction.
You can read more about this construction process at http://projectschoolhouse.blogspot.com/.
Sincerely,
Thomas Barker
Title: Fighting poverty and inequality with used books - Judy Mi Cha's blog
Date: 09/25/2007
Story:
Project Schoolhouse and Books Beyond Borders were mentioned in Judy Mi Cha's blog. You can find her blog here.
Check it out. Thanks Judy!
Title: School Completed in Nicaragua! Check out the video?
Date: 08/06/2007
Story:
On July 2, 2007, a three room elementary school was finished in Kiwaska, Nicaragua. Under construction since April 1, 2007, the project was a partnership between the community of Kiwaska and Project Schoolhouse. Nearly 2000 sq ft, the new school dwarfs the previous building of 225 sq ft and provides a much improved learning environment for Kiwaska's 80 primary students.
Kiwaska is about 50km north of Rio Blanco, 45km of which is traversable by truck, which takes about 2.5 hours. Then, the last 2km are traversed by horseback. The major feature of this region is the large Rio Tuma, which separates La Ceiba from the town of San Andres at the end of a gravel road, and which poses a major impediment to travel during the rainy season. During this time it is uncrossably either by truck or horse. A small handhewn canoe serves as a ferry for nine months of the year.
There is no running water or electricity and the houses are spread out with, on average, a half kilometer between them. The community relies on agriculture and small livestock farming and is and nearly self sufficient. Its main cash crops are milk and cacao which they sell in the nearby town of San Andres (pop 300). They also produce corn, beans, cheese, chicken, pork and cattle, and import rice.
Title: Salsa Spectacular fundraiser for March 31st in Sheridan, WY
Date: 02/01/2007
Story:
Project Schoolhouse is hosting a salsa style fundraiser in Sheridan, WY on March 31st. Austin-based salsa orchestra "O-Positivo" will be performing at the Elk Ballroom.
Also performing will be the Dane Dexter Quintet featuring Martha Tate, Tab Barker, Nick Johnson, Sam Western, and Terry Terzief.
There will be a silent auction, video and photo presentations, and food. Tickets are available at Lucinda's, Meritage, The Book Shop, Over the Moon, and online at wyotheater.com.
Title: School Supply drive in local elementary schools
Date: 05/18/2006
Story:
Project Schoolhouse and the Austin Independent School District have teamed up to collect and distribute new & partially used school supplies to around 40 rural elementary schools in Nicaragua.
During the last week of school, participating elementary schools will drop their used school supplies in a collection box in each school. At the end of the week, the boxes will be collected, sorted, and shipped to Managua, Nicaragua. Once in Nicaragua, they will be distributed by a number of recipient organizations to rural schools in the Rio Blanco municipality and surrounding areas.
Title: March 26th - First Annual Ping-Pong Tournament Benefit!
Date: 03/06/2006
Story:
On Sunday March 26th at 3pm, Project Schoolhouse is hosting its first annual Ping-Pong Tournament Benefit!
To be held at the Books Beyond warehouse on 622 Pedernales Street in East Austin, the benefit is $10 at the door and includes beer, snacks, and entry into the tournament (RSVP required by March 17th for players.) DJs will be spinning, and there will be fabulous prizes donated by such restaurants as Vivo and Ruby's Barbecue for the top placers.
Players of all levels encouraged! Spectators welcome! There will also be a book drop-box for any good condition books that you'd like to donate.
If you have questions or you want to RSVP, please email donate@booksbeyondborders.com or call 512.-853-9565.
See you there!
Title: March 8th - PSH Benefit at 10,000 Villages!
Date: 03/06/2006
Story:
We cordially invite you to come visit the 10,000 Villages store on South Congress on March 8th!
Project Schoolhouse is hosting an evening of music and drink at the store. 10,000 Villages will donate 15% of the proceeds from the evening's sales to our current elementary school project in Nicaragua.
Project Schoolhouse's mission is to develop and implement programs in rural communities in developing countries which improve educational infrastructure and quality. We are currently working to fund three elementary school projects in Nicaragua.
There will be live music by Amy Bobruk from 5pm to 6:30pm and O-Positivo, a local salsa band, from 7pm to 9pm.
Originally from Huntsville, TX, Aimee Bobruk has been performing all over Austin for the last two years. While her lyrical ability and melodic sense evoke similarities to the Cowboy Junkies and Joan Baez, Aimee's music defies obvious comparisons. Check her out at: www.aimeebobruk.com.
O-Positivo is an 8 member Afro-Cuban salsa band with a large repoirtoire of classic cuban son and mainstream salsa. For the past 9 months they've been playing weekly on the roof of the Light Bar (4th & Congress). Featured here will be three of those members: Angel Ibanez, Isai chacon, and Pepe Gaitan. For information: luisangelibanez@hotmail.com
Title: Project Schoolhouse: From Austin to La Ceiba
Date: 01/26/2006
Story:
La Prensa, August 26, 2005
AUSTIN - From an unassuming warehouse in Pedernales Street, an Austin-based non-profit is working to construct schools for first-to-sixth-graders in some of the poorest regions of Central America. The 501(c)3 organization is called Educational Programs for the International Community (EPIC), and it began with an idea and a benefit concert in Sheridan, Wyoming in the summer of 2000. Project Schoolhouse functions under that auspice and is the primary vehicle for the organization's school-building activities.
The effort saw its first schoolhouse under construction in 2001 after raising $20,000 from the concert as well as individuals and businesses in Sheridan.
The mission has expanded to include different communities and countries, but a bare-bones approach, and an abiding interest in the mountainous jungles of Central America, and the tenacity of a small, dedicated staff still characterize the project as it flourishes in Austin's heavily Hispanic East Side.
The location is useful because the staff has the opportunity to speak Spanish on a regular basis, and East Austin lately has become home to a number of enterprising non-profit ventures like the Rhizome Collective and Bikes Across Borders, providing a base of support and talent for organizations like Project Schoolhouse.
The idea came about as a result of a year spent teaching English to Costa Rican first graders in 1997. Project Schoolhouse's founder, Thomas Barker, remembers that year fondly. However, the classroom was a poorly equipped with a single dim bulb for light, with 12 desks and a portable chalkboard crammed inside a very small space. "The dimensions of the room forced me to stand about six inches from the noses of the first row of students," Barker said.
The classroom housed, among other jungle cirtters, a colony of bats. The roof let in much of the seasonal rain that falls in that part of the world, and the three open windows let in what the roof did not. In short, after his year of teaching, Barker decided that the children he taught, so eager to learn, deserved a better classroom. Project Schoolhouse's first school project, completed in late 2001, serves the very same Costa Rican community of Rio Piedras. The new building has a steel frame and a storm drainage system utilizing 12-inch concrete pipe. The building houses an English classroom and a computer classroom. The school in Rio Piedras was constructed with permission from Costa Rica's Ministry of Education, and the computer classroom was built in partnership with the Omar Dengo Foundation based in San Jose.
The project, as staffers affectionately refer to it, is now in the process of building three more schools in hard-to-reach towns and villages in Nicaragua, and even more schools throughout Central America are envisioned. Communities are selected based on need. Project Schoolhouse has chosen three communities in the Rio Blanco municipality: La Ceiba, Santa Edubijes, and San Isidro. "These three communities, for whatever reason, all are largely excluded from the building projects of the Nicaraguan government," Barker said. "There are no current or future plans for education investment in these communities by any other Nicaraguan or international organization."
Barker is quick to point out that Project Schoolhouse has the support of the head of the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education as well as the municipal authorities in Rio Blanco, in addition to the expressed support of the people in the communities. Earlier this year, representatives from Project Schoolhouse conducted a sort of town hall meeting with all three of the communities. In particular need are the approximately 50 families that live in the remote village of La Ceiba. Barker said the staff chose the village because it had the bad luck of being located 12 hours from the central town of its municipal district. Barker said La Ceiba had little hope of ever receiving aid or supplies from the local authority for education.
The town meeting works this way; in a rare example of direct democracy, project representatives explained to the assembled townspeople why they wanted to help the community build a new school, and after some deliveration, the citizens vote by a show of hands on whether or not to partner with Barker and his staff. The project has conducted three successful such meetings in 2005.
Project representatives do request a commitment from the people of the community to provide some of the labor for construction and transport of materials from the drop-off site, which can be several kilometers away. The project provides two skilled carpenters for each site, and Barker says the enrgy and enthusiasm of the townspeople shows through their work.
"La Ceiba is caught in an unfortunate limbo, and for this reason is an excellent candidate for inclusion in this project," Barker said. He noted that travel in the Rio Blanco region is slow and difficult, and travelers have to be ready to get off the bus when the road ends and either walk or ride a horse to their final destination. In fact, La Ceiba is separated from the nearby town of San Andres by a large river, and requires a five-kilometer horseback ride to reach from the end of the gravel road. Barker said the river is impassable even on horseback for nine months of the year, and passage is provided by a small, hand-hewn canoe. Trucks can get close to La Ceiba and the other selected towns in the dry season (from mid-February to late April). Trucks will bring in supplies for the construction of the new schools early in 2006. Barker says Project Schoolhouse will start building the schools in La Ceiba and the similary situated communities of San Isidro and Santa Eduvijes in March 2006. He estimates construction will take about three months.
Project Schoolhouse limits its mission to building the school in order to keep things straightforward and not interfere with the curriculum desired by the community or prescribed by the government. For instance, in Santa Edubijes, the community pooled its resources and paid the single schoolteacher's salary until recently, when the government hired a second instructor and took over the responsibility for teacher pay. Decisions about what to teach are left up to the teacher and the authority that pays the teacher's salary.
Project Schoolhouse's plans for the school in Santa Edubijes will provide a facility with enough space for both instructors to teach full classes. The village is populated by approximately 50 families, and Barker notes that Santa Edubijes is full of school-age children. "In Santa Edubijes, the [existing] school is 14 years old," Barker said. "The structure consists of wooden planks and a dirt floor."
The project has its own rewards, of course. La Ceiba's current schoolhouse is a single-room, 400-square-foot structure, and it serves 60 students. The school is not secure from the elements, in particular the rain. Barker said there are many more school-age children in the town and the surrounding area, but the limitations of the structure dicate the number of students who may attend classes.
After the completion of the first school in Rio Piedras, Barker wrote a pamphlet to inform donors about the place where Project Schoolhouse began. "Rio Piedras is a town with as many children as adult," he wrote. "More tomatoes than dollars, and more horses than cars. They live simply, frugally, and happily. They play soccer every evening and go dancing every weekend...I dearly treasure the thinks that I learned and the people who I grew to know." La Escuela de Rio Piedras and the work of Project Schoolhouse are both, in a way, monuments to that experience.
Title: Austinite goes Beyond Borders
Date: 01/09/2006
Story:
from Austin Community College's newspaper Accent, October 7, 2005
From a warehouse space in East Austin, Thomas Barker, owner of the Internet bookstore Books Beyond Borders, is raising funds to help build classrooms for elementary school children in remote villages of Central America. Books Beyond Borders began operating in 2003 and sells donated new or gently used textbooks through Amazon.com. The net profits are donated to Educational Programs for the International Community, a nonprofit that is designed to gather funds for the development of education systems in impoverished regions around the world.
EPIC is a project close to Barker's heart. He taught English in 1997 in the village school of Rio Piedras, Costa Rica, for 11 months. "The room I was teaching in was very cramped and 12 desks; it had only a bare light blub hanging from a wire for light," said Barker. "I used a portable blackboard and had to stand 6 inches in front of the noses of the first row of students...[They were] not very good conditions for kids to learn in." Barker created EPIC and returned to Rio Piedras in 2000 with $10,000 he had raised in his hometown of Sheridan, Wyo. The people of Sheridan really got behind the project, and the YMCA sponsored the fundraising," said Barker. Then weeks from the idea's inception, Barker was on his way to Rio Piedras to bring the project to fruition. Although there were infrastructure problems, communication challenges, and many consecutive days of rain to contend with, Barker and his team of one crew chief and six laborers completed the construction of one schoolhouse in just seven weeks. "It took twice the projected funds and twice as long as I thought it would in the beginning," said Barker. As funding ran low the last two weeks, excitement grew as the finest classrooms (there were two of them) in the region began to take shape. The labor crew even donated their time in the end to complete the project. After he returned to the United States to raise money for the over-runs he ahd incurred, Barker set his sights on Austin - on a whim - as the place to establish a home and business for greater dreams. Those dreams are now in the form of three new school projects in Nicaragua. With the aid of the Nicaragua Department of Education, Barker and an architect pitched the project to the townspeople of three rural areas deperately in need of improved school conidtions. As rural villages, they did not qualify for government funding. The people of La Ceiba, Santa Edubijes and San Antonio, Nicaragua, accepted the school buildings with enthusiasm and have donated their own labor to assist in building the new schoolhouses, Barker said. Under the umbrella of EPIC, Project Schoolhouse was established as a marketing tool for EPIC's projects. "The bookstore proceeds will go directly to Project Schoolhouse," said Barker. "I also want to partner with other businesses and school libraries, to put books that would [otherwise] be thrown out to good use." At the websites www.projectschoolhouse.org and www.booksbeyondborders.com, there are links to partnering projects and information on how to make donations. Barker envisions funding that will one day go beyond the building structure, from badly needed water systems to school supplies. "I'd like to design a unit of textbooks for them to use," said Barker. "I know we could get a deal with a book publisher in Mexico." The estimated combined costs for the Nicaraguan projects in La Ceiba, Santa Edubijes and San Antonio stands at $100,000, and Barker plans to begin fundraising in 2006. "I'm going in March with whatever funds I've got to begin while the dry season holds," he said. "The children there have so much desire to learn, and the difference in what is there and what could be there is so enormous."
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