Thanks to your generosity and that of others we have raised over $50,000 to be invested directly into the second school in Nicaragua named after our beloved daughter/sibling, Brett Bentley Crawford. Between our foundation and some additional donations from interested supporters we have commitments for the money required to build the school, construct an athletic field, purchase books for the library and supply the learning materials required by the teachers and students. We can’t begin to express how much we appreciate your support of this very worthwhile undertaking. It will give well over 125 needy children, now and for generations to come, the opportunity for an education that otherwise would not have been possible.
We would like to bring you up to date on the progress we are making in constructing Brett’s second school and share with you a little bit about the process we use in making the schools a reality. This new school is located approximately 20 minutes away from Brett’s first school which was in central Managua, the nation’s capital. It is in a more rural setting in an area referred to locally as Tipitapa. We have found it is much easier to work in this type of community than in a major city. So things are moving much quicker with this school than the first one which took four years to get all the required approvals and complete construction.
We have been so pleased to see the entire Tipitapa community galvanized in support of learning and taking pride in themselves and their surroundings. We have enclosed several photographs showing the ground-breaking, attended by an excited group of local residents and their children, along with photos of the progress being made on the building itself. You will note several important aspects of how we approach the building process:
- Our partner, SchoolBOX has its own dedicated crew that literally lives on site in sleeping bags while the building is under construction. The crew is very experienced in constructing as they have built over 44 classrooms together with SchoolBox. This assures the building is constructed properly and deters theft of materials which would otherwise be an issue
- Many volunteers from the U.S., Canada and elsewhere around the world travel to Nicaragua under a SchoolBox sponsored program and volunteer their time to help in the construction of the school. This has proven to be a valuable and rewarding experience for hundreds of individuals in the last several years.
- Residents in the local community eagerly take part in the construction process. Grandparents, fathers, mothers and children all directly contribute their time and energy in building their school. We have found this gives them a tangible investment in the school and instills tremendous pride in what they have accomplished for their children. SchoolBOX has told us that the Tipitapa community has displayed more commitment and diligence than any other community in which they have worked. The school literally has become the focal point and uniting catalyst of the entire community region.
We will be sending each donor the required tax information documenting their donation to the foundation in the next couple of weeks.
We, again, thank you for your contributions to the school and the children of Nicaragua.
Sincerely,
The Crawford Family
