Shin Fujiyama shares his plan to enable Hondurans

By: Olivia Hart, oliviag@vt,edu, (540)-327-3844

BLACKSBURG, Va. --- On Feb. 16 Shin Fujiyama shared his inspiring story of how one man making
$5.25 an hour was able to raise over $5 million for an organization he created called Students Helping
Honduras, SHH. On Virginia Techs campus in the Squires Student Center he stood on stage and
explained his journey of creating a non-profit organization from the ground up.
SHH is an organization with over 100 colleges who raise money to build schools in Honduras. After the
students reach their goal they can take a trip down and help build the school. Virginia Tech SHH has
actually help build four schools and is working on fund raising for the fifth one right now.
Fujiyama started SHH 11 years ago with just himself at University of Mary Washington. He is now the
co-founder and CEO of SHH and the global co-chair of the United Nations. He was named CNN Hero in
2009. Getting SHH where it is did not come easily though.
I cant believe that he was living out of the back of his car for months when he was trying to start SHH
at different colleges, said Kellie Stengstack, a junior who has been to Honduras.
After the organization started to expand over the country, Fujiyama set a new goal for the organization of
building a school for every village that needed one, about 1,000. In about 10 years, SHH has built 32
schools.
He also wants the close the gap between the top 2 percent and the bottom 2 percent of the country, so in
these schools the kids are learning English. English is the spring board out of poverty in Honduras, it
makes it much easier to find a job.
According the Fujiyama, without this education, thousands of kids will join gangs in Honduras.
One of the main donors that got the club its start was Doris Buffet, Warren Buffets sister. She challenged
the University of Mary Washington chapter to raise $33,000 of the $100,000 goal and she would donate
the remaining $66,000. She ended up donating much more over the years.
Even the students who had been to Honduras were learning from Fujiyamas story.
I was surprised to learn that the Buffet family had such an impact on the start-up of SHH, said Alex
Massie, a senior at Virginia Tech who has been to Honduras before.
This event was a favorite for the members of SHH at Virginia Tech but it took some time to organize.
Our faculty advisor Reed Kennedy, worked to get Shin Fujiyama to visit Blacksburg. It took a full
semester of emailing, coordinating and seeking sponsors to fund his trip. The Pamplin College of
Business, VT Engage and APEX Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship worked together to make
Shin's visit possible. SHH former president, Ana Matusiewicz, worked with Reed last semester to make it
happen and my responsibility this semester as the new president was to have it all come together, said
Rhiannon Hasenauer, president of SHH.

There was a raffle at the end of the speech where a free trip, excluding air fare, was given away. The
group travels down every winter break and summer break and encourage anyone to come and help.
Hasenauer recommends to those that are interested in traveling to Honduras to do your research before
you go and prepare yourself for what life will be like on your trip. She also recommends to keep an open
mind because the way Hondurans live in the villages SHH visits is much different than life in the U.S.