Students Helping Honduras was started in 2006 by Shin Fujiyama a student at College of William and Mary after he had been to Honduras several times on college breaks and saw first hand the difficulties the Honduran people face.
Honduras has a 66% poverty rate and is currently the most unequal country in Latin America. Crime and violence remain rampant, as Honduras continues to have one of the highest homicide rates in the world. 37% of Honduran children of secondary school age (12-16) are out of school. Of the poorest quintile, 62% are out of school.
Shin made it is his goal to build 1000 schools in Honduras. He moved to Honduras and started working on this goal. His idea was to have SHH chapters at colleges and universities and have the chapters fundraise money to build a school in Honduras and then come to Honduras and assist in building the school with Shin and his team.
In 2019 there are almost 100 colleges participating and 50 schools have been built as well as a childrens home for orphaned children.
Michaella was part of this amazing organization and was due to go to Honduras in 2012 but unfortunately passed away before the trip. The school that the UMD students raised money for and assisted building was dedicated to Michaella. Erin and Marty Libby went to Honduras in her honor to see for themselves what the program was about and were deeply moved by Shin and his program and decided to dedicate a portion of their fundraising money every year to Students Helping Honduras.