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Help bring backpacks full of school supplies to 153 children in Cite Soleil. #Indiegogo

Please take a moment and visit this Indiegogo.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/school-supplies-for-children-in-haiti

Be The Hope began as a dream and desire to do more. My name is Heather Hinze and I am a 40(ish!) single mom of a 16 year old daughter and a licensed foster parent. Thanks to a pair of shoes, a book, water, a burlap bag and a hatred of cubicles I am taking a leap of faith to realize my dream of changing the lives of children in Haiti. To learn more about how it all started, please visit my blog: www.bethehopehaiti.wordpress.com .

Our Mission

Be The Hope is a non profit organization with a mission to provide a backpack full of school supplies to children in Haiti, which will help alleviate the financial burden on their families. We believe education is a human right, not a privilege.

The Impact

We are starting with 150 children in Cite Soleil. The children are from Agape Orphanage, La Main Tendre Orphanage, Frem Orphanage, Cite Soleil Youth Center and Mix Emmanuel Primary School. Cite Soleil is in Port au Prince, Haiti. It is the poorest and most dangerous area in the Western Hemisphere and also one of the largest slums in the Northern Hemisphere. An estimated 150,000 of Cite Soleil’s residents are orphaned or abandoned children. Seventy percent of these children are school age; however they do not attend school. In Haiti, 55% of the population lives below the poverty line of $1.25 per day. Due to the cost of school fees, school supplies, and uniforms many families can’t afford to send their children to school.

We believe if all Haitian children had access to an education, their potential to both end the cycle of poverty and contribute to the recovery of Haiti would increase. According to UNICEF, education contributes to greater civic participation and helps to combat youth violence, sexual harassment and human trafficking. It also results in a range of health benefits including lower infant mortality, reduced domestic violence and improved child nutrition. For many Haitian children, a school lunch is the only meal that they can count on receiving all day. Education can foster social empowerment, enabling an entire generation to become economically independent and positive contributors to society. Education is an important part of the successful rebuilding of Haiti.

The Backpack Project

Our goal is to raise enough funds to purchase 150 backpacks, which we will deliver in May 2013. Each backpack will include:

• 1 – backpack


• 1 – hand pencil sharpener


• 1 – 24 count crayons


• 2 – 100 page composition notebooks


• 1 – 12 count #2 pencils


• 1 – pencil case


• 1 – eraser


• 1 – 10 pack ball point pens


• 1 – 12″ ruler

We have partnered with a company that will pre-assemble the backpacks to our specifications. A complete backpack can be purchased for only $25.00! If you’re a parent of a school age child, think about what you spend every year on school supplies. If you’re like me, the backpack alone is more than $25.00.

If we do not reach our fundraising goal, we will purchase as many backpacks as we can with the funds raised.

If we surpass our goal (as we hope we do!), there are many more things that we would like accomplish! The schools are also in need of chalk, chalkboard erasers, and arts and crafts supplies. There’s already another school of 106 children that is in desperate need of help and we would LOVE to help them. No penny will go to waste!

Other Ways You Can Help

We understand that some people just can’t contribute financially, but you can still help us reach our goal!

• Please tell ALL of your friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues about our cause and this campaign.


• Share this campaign with Indiegogo share tools. Share with your email lists and social media contacts.


• Become a fan of our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bethehopehaiti


• Follow our blog on www.bethehopehaiti.wordpress.com


• Visit our website www.bethehopehaiti.org


• Check out our Amazon Wish List for additional needed items that we would like to bring to Haiti http://amzn.com/w/FU237H4GPEN3


• Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/bethehopehaiti


• Set up your own fundraising event to benefit Be The Hope’s mission!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/school-supplies-for-children-in-haiti

Sunken Sub, 15,000 Pounds of Cocaine

A 100-foot submarine capable of carrying 10 tons of drugs and traveling up to 5,000 miles was captured on its way to Florida with at least $180 million worth of cocaine on it. Authorities arrested the five men on board the self-propelled semi-submersible and confiscated 15,000 pounds of cocaine from the submarine after it sunk in July 2011.







It was the first time such a vessel and its illicit cargo was seized in the Caribbean, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The “narco-subs,” as they’re known, are built in the jungles of Colombia controlled by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The vessels have moved nearly one-third of all cocaine in that area, according to the Coast Guard.

Madoff’s Money, $2.35 Billion Collected

By the end of 2012, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan recovered approximately $2.35 billion under asset forfeiture laws from Bernard Madoff’s mega-scheme. While much of that money came from a multimillion dollar forfeiture by the Jeffry Picower Estate, millions have come by auctioning off Madoff’s personal belongings — some typical, others not so much.

When wife Ruth Madoff’s 10.5 carat diamond engagement ring sold for $550,000 at a November 2010 auction, it significantly contributed to the $2 million raised from the sale of items taken out of the Madoffs’ Manhattan penthouse; but it was their more intimate belongings that earned more money than estimated.

One lot that included 11 pairs of Madoff’s boxer shorts and a pair of Prada pantyhose sold for $1,700, while another with his velveteen monogrammed slippers fetched $6,000 – that was 50 times more than the estimated $110 it was expected to fetch. But walking in Madoff’s shoes would prove difficult for the buyer of the fancy footwear who wore a size 13 shoe — Madoff’s slippers were a size 8.