- College students walk with Honduran children. Students are trying to raise enough money to help a village that has 72 families.

Suyapa Bonilla does chores in January in the shack she shares with her husband, their children, and two others. College students walk with Honduran children. Students are trying to raise enough money to help a village that has 72 families.

Student organization, with help from local philanthropist, hopes to raise $200,000 to aid poor Honduran village

Date published: 3/20/2007

By RUSTY DENNEN

If a fundraiser coming up in April is successful, 72 families in a squatter village in Central America will have permanent homes and better lives, thanks to people here.

Students Helping Honduras, which has chapters at the University of Mary Washington and the College of William & Mary, will sponsor a Walkathon for Hope April 21.

It will begin at 1:30 p.m. at UMW and aims to raise $100,000. Philanthropist Doris Buffett's Sunshine Lady Foundation has agreed to chip in another $100,000 if the students reach that threshold.

"We need the help of the entire community to meet this challenge," said Shin Fujiyama, a senior at UMW and a founder of Students Helping Honduras. About $15,000 has been raised so far.

Walker Somerville, vice president of Students Helping Honduras, and a sophomore at William & Mary, said students at Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia and George Mason University will also participate.

"And we're trying to get students at local high schools involved," said Somerville, who lives in Orange County.

Each student team will try to raise at least $1,400, about half the estimated cost of building one house. Meanwhile, organizers are approaching local businesses to help reach the $100,000 challenge goal.

The five-mile walkathon route will be on the UMW campus. There will be live bands, free food and free massages.

In January, The Free Lance-Star published a four-part series of stories on efforts to aid Siete de Abril, a small village in El Progreso, Honduras. Fujiyama, his sister, Cosmo, a senior at William & Mary, and the UMW Campus Christian Community have led the initiative.

Seventy-two families lead

Spartan lives in tin-roof shacks with no electricity and parasite-infested water. Most are on the bottom rung of Honduran society. They claimed the land after they were displaced by Hurricane Mitch in 1999.

Thanks to the Fujiyamas, and others, their lives have been improving. A small school was built last year, and many of the shacks were repaired in January by volunteers and donations from the Fredericksburg area. Delegations from Students Helping Honduras, the Campus Christian Community and the Stafford and Rappahannock Rotary Clubs were the most recent visitors.

For more information about leading a team or raising money for the Walkathon for Hope, contact the Web site, studentshelpinghonduras.org To make a tax-deductible contribution, write a check to CCC Village Fund and mail it to Campus Christian Community, 1213 Dandridge St., Fredericksburg, Va., 22401. To read The Free Lance-Star series, go to: fredericksburg.com/News/Web/2007/012007/honduraspromo

Date published: 3/20/2007