Our team just returned from Honduras and we had an incredible two weeks filled with hard work and meaningful experiences! It seemed as if every second that we spent in Honduras, something was always happening, but since we can't give you the play by play recap, here are some of the highlights:

-Our team worked with 2 construction workers (Chilo and Olvin)  and the father of the family 8 full days and 2 half days to finish 99% of the house. The only things missing were the windows and electrical wiring, which Olvin finished shortly after we left.

-On the hottest day, the heat index reached a temperature of 118⁰, so we had to drink gallons of water every day to stay hydrated.

-There was a lot of collaboration with the community throughout those weeks to learn more about different construction techniques and we actually had to make some design changes on site to better suit the family’s needs.

-The family was extremely grateful for our help and the kids seemed ecstatic about their new home.

-On the last day, our team bought a piñata and filled it with candy and other prizes to celebrate with the kids from the entire Siete de Mayo community. The kids loved the piñata, but based on the smiles in our faces, one could say our team enjoyed just as much, if not more than the kids.

-Before we left, Chilo and Olvin gave us great news by saying that they loved our final design and already had plans to build another identical house in a different village. Learning this was a fantastic ending note and a great sign that shows this is indeed a model that can be replicated.

Through your continued support you did not only help us change this family's life, but you also helped us spark a movement that will hopefully continue to change many family's lives, even after we left the country.

Once again, thank you so much!

Go Bucks!

The Honduras Sustainable Housing Team

Hey Everyone,

We hope this message finds you well! We apologize for the update delay, but our team has been diligently working in preparation for our upcoming Honduras trip. The past few months have been filled with team meetings, advisory forums, client calls, and hands-on construction sessions. We still have a lot more to get done in these next few weeks, but we are so excited to keep you all updated throughout the summer. 

Since the start of March, our team has been regularly getting together in order to construct a house prototype. This has been extremely beneficial in several different ways. First, it has allowed us to familiarize ourselves with basic construction concepts. Many of us have barely touched a hammer or drill in our lives, yet alone build an entire house from scratch. We have learned to do everything from forming a foundation, to laying bricks, to creating a roof. Second, this process has allowed us to identify and adapt to potential errors. Calculating the wrong measurements, using too little mortar, wasting materials - these have all been mistakes that have occurred during our sessions. Discovering these errors now means that we can save time and resources when we're actually in-country. Finally and most importantly, it has allowed us to improve our teamwork skills. Up until now, we've had business, engineering, and construction management majors all doing distinct tasks. For laying bricks, it doesn't matter what you're studying! Working together for hours on end has really allowed us to bond. 

Stay tuned for more updates! 

Best Regards,

The Honduras Sustainable Housing Team

We are very excited to share a bit more our story as we continue through the semester. Today's post comes from our awesome architecture student, Brandon.

Hi Everyone,

As the architecture “team”, my goal is to bring as much design expertise as I can to this project. This being my first humanitarian effort in architecture, I had a bit of catching up to do when it came to culture and context in Honduras and other countries in need. Although humanitarian projects are new to me, I have worked in two architecture offices on internships which took on many residential projects and I do have a background in this field. As much as I enjoy design, I also enjoy the gratifying feeling of seeing the joy in giving someone a home, a place to start their life anew.

My contribution to the project comes in the form of architectural drawings including floor plans, elevation drawings (exterior views of a project), as well as renderings of what the final product will appear as. Lately, Patrick, Sabine, Chris, Warren and I have been working closely in creating a set of drawings which will finalize the design for the house. Once we complete this phase, we will begin prototyping a model home using the same materials that the home down in Honduras will be constructed with.

Thank you for all of your continued support of our cause in creating sustainable homes in a country where these type of projects have a greater impact than you could imagine!

Many thanks,

Brandon Abrams

Hi All,

Our Buckeyefunder fundraising campaign is now complete, and we would like to thank you so much for your generosity in helping us to exceed our goal! We are awed by the support we have received, and we would not be able to construct our house in May without you. From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to thank you for your kindness.

We would like to thank our advisors, Howard Greene, Judith Tansky, Mike Hagenberger, Thierry Beaudoin, and Mac Ware, and our in-country partners, Larry and Angie Overholt, for all our your guidance throughout this project.

We will continue sharing our progress with you through these updates. We are very excited to travel in May, but we have a lot of work to do before then! Next week, we are having a design review to go over the design we have been working on since we returned from our trip in January. We will also be constructing a scaled-down prototype here in Columbus to test a few processes and train our team.

Our giving page is no longer active, but if you would like to provide any additional support to our project, please do so here.

We are so happy to be able to share our project with you all and we look forward to keeping you updated on the impact you have helped us create.

Thanks a bunch!!

The Honduras Team

Hello lovely supporters,

Following our theme of the week, we are excited to feature our Construction Systems Manager, Warren Ashton. Here is a bit more about him and his involvement in our project:

 Hello, my name is Warren Ashton and I am a junior in Construction Systems Management. My main responsibilities for the project are to come up with the estimates for the house and a construction schedule for when we build the house in Honduras in May. I also assist with the architects and engineers if they have a question about designing the house. This week, I will be meeting with my construction advisor Mr. Ware, and we will be going over the plans for the our prototype house we will be building on Ohio State’s campus. 

 The main reason why I am a part of this project is because our team is trying to come up with a solution for people who are truly in need. This project is very challenging and obstacles have come our way. However, I know the end result of building a house in May for someone who is truly in need will make of the challenges and obstacles worth it. 

 This is my second year on the project, so I had the opportunity to build a house last year in Honduras for widow and her children. Through the experience of visiting Honduras, I have gained a new appreciation for the little things in life, such as a door I can lock safely at night and a roof that doesn't leak. Most people take these little things for granted, but my experience on this project has changed my perspective on life in ways I never would have imagined.

Thank you so much for your generosity and kindness,

Warren and The Honduras Team

Hi All,

We are astounded by the progress we have made, thank you so much for all of your support! We wanted to share a bit more about who we are as a team, so today we are featuring the Civil Engineering students, Chris Colley, Patrick Sours, and Sabine Loos. Here is a message from them:

Our Civil Engineering team is motivated by being able to use what we have learned to make an impact on the world. Humanitarian engineering is a way for us to make that impact and is what attracted us to the project in the first place. As members of Engineers Without Boarders, Sabine and Patrick have completed humanitarian projects before and we have all developed a passion for it. 

Currently, we are working on the computer models for the house. The next step will be the actual engineering of the house, such as designing it to withstand wind loads, gravity loads, how each part of the house will fit together; basically how the house will stand up and stay up. During the course of the project, we have been able to practice what we have learned throughout their studies at Ohio State. It is interesting to be able to apply what we have learned to a real world project. 

It has been a pleasure to have met and got to knew new people in Honduras. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with everyone and we are excited to travel to Honduras to complete what we have designed.

With gratitude,

The Honduras Housing Team

Hey everyone,

From the bottom of our hearts, the whole Honduras team would like to thank you all for the support and encouragement over the last few weeks. Yesterday, we were extremely excited to find out that we exceeded our fundraising goal of $3,500. Every single donation makes a big difference, and every single cent will be used towards providing sustainable housing in these impoverished areas.

On top of that, now that our financial goals have been met, the team will be entirely focused on making our project more efficient and effective. We have a long way to go before our trip in May, but we are excited and motivated to tackle any upcoming hurdles. We know that it will all be worth it in the end.

Please continue to stay in tune for upcoming updates. Just because we have met our monetary goals does not mean that we do not want to keep you all updated! As we begin design testing and further implementation, we definitely hope to keep everyone in the loop. Sustainable housing means so much to us, and we hope you can continue following us throughout this journey.

Thanks for everything,

The Honduras Sustainable Housing Team 

Hello lovely supporters,

Happy Monday! We are so thankful to have you be a part of our project, and we have some amazing news to share with you! The Business of Good Foundation in Cleveland has agreed to match what we receive from this Buckeyefunder campaign, up to $3,500!! That means every donation we receive now has twice the impact!!!!!! Thank you so much for all of your generous support, we cannot express how much it means to us!

As promised, we are going to tell you a little bit about each one our teams this week - so first up is the Business Team. Paul, Jeff, and Kelsey have been working together this year to negotiate terms with the local credit union to manage the seed fund and administer the loans, and to assess how to best implement a business model. They work with Dr. Judy Tansky, their business advisor and a leader in social enterprise at OSU, as well variety of external partners to gather insight on how to best create a sustainable housing solution. In addition to their business education, each member brings unique background experience to this year's team. Paul has worked on construction projects with a social enterprise in Tanzania, Jeff has traveled to a variety of countries and loves to shoot videos, and Kelsey has participated on the project since it began in September, 2014.  They have faced many challenges along the way, but this project is an invaluable part of their college experience.

We would like to thank you for all of your support and look forward to hearing what you have to say on social media using #BuckeyeLove!

- HSHP Team

Hope. It's a simple word. But it can change someone's entire life. As a part of the Honduras Sustainable Housing project, we believe, with your generous support, that we can bring hope to those desperately searching for it. 

This week, we've taken a step back to look at what we are trying to achieve and how we are going about it. This has culminated in our special video for the week featuring our team as we navigate our way through this challenging but very rewarding project! 

In our upcoming updates, we will sharing a bit more about each of our student sub-teams - Architecture, Business, Civil Engineering, and Construction Systems Management - and share how we have used our education and skills to have a sustainable impact as a part of this project! 

Thank you so much for your generous support!!! We are so excited to share this journey with you and would love to see your posts on social media under #BuckeyeLove. 

A special thank you to Andrew Petrilla, an OSU student in Computer Science Engineering, for your amazing video expertise. 

Hi Supporters,

We are about a third of the way through this campaign. Every time we receive a donation or people share our platform on social media, we get very excited because every donation helps open new doors.

As you help us make progress towards achieving our goal, we have also been making progress on the other side by finalizing construction design drawings and communicating with our recipient in Choluteca. During our last trip a few weeks ago, we met Kenis Sanchez, who is a young man in his late 20’s with aspirations to go to a local college and later work for the vocational school helping other children. Kenis currently lives with his parents in a very small house and has plans to get married later in the year.

We believe that building a house for him will be ideal as a proof of concept because with his disciplined work-ethic and ambition, we trust he will make timely payments. Additionally, by helping him, we are confident we are making an impact beyond helping his new family because we will enable him to make an impact in other children from the community.

We plan to Skype Kenis next week to share our drawings and make any final edits that are needed.

Thank you! And please remember to share our #BuckeyeLove on social media.

Go Buckeyes!

Honduras Team

Hey everyone,

Thank you all for your support over this first week - we're already 1/4 completed towards accomplishing our final fundraising goal! 

Just a few weeks ago, our team went down to Honduras in order to conduct interviews and collect additional information for our project. Here is a video of what we were up to for the first half of the trip. Enjoy!

Lastly, please help us spread the word about our project by sharing our cause with #BuckeyeLove on Twitter, and sharing our project through social media. Again, thank you all for your overwhelming support. Our team is working extremely hard this semester, and is excited to share our results with all of you. 

Best Regards,

The Entire Honduras Sustainable Housing Team 

Hi all!! Wow, we already have over $250 in only a few days!! Thank you so much for all of your generosity, we cannot complete our project without your help! We had the opportunity to go to Honduras for a few days this January to get a better understanding of where we are working, which was an incredible experience! We also visited the house that was constructed last year, and met with Alexis, who lives in it and loves her home!

Our student team consists of 8 students:

Paul - Yellow Shirt, Finance

Kelsey - Red Shirt, Business Economics

Sabine - OSU Shirt, Civil Engineering

Warren - Cleveland Indians tee, Construction Systems Management

Patrick – Black Hat, Civil Engineering

Jeff – Mickey Mouse shirt, Finance

Chris - not pictured, Civil Engineering

Brandon - not pictured, Architecture

And our head advisor, Dr. Howard Greene