by Rachel Richards
Every year at BYU–Hawaii we get one Thursday off for the ‘Empower Your Dreams’...thing. But how many of us actually know what it is?
Empower Your Dreams is a business plan competition that uses a different strategy each year to get the ideas and businesses going. This year is a continuation of the ‘Great Ideas Competition’ in Fall semester 2014 and centers around crowdfunding, or raising money to turn ideas into actualities. The top three winners of each of the three categories this year win a money to help them get their business going, anywhere from $10,000 to $1,000. Which is why you may have one or more friends trying to get you to donate your cash.
One of the favorites this year is Houses of Hope, which is raising money to build houses for the LDS missionaries in the tiny islands of Vanuatu, with a large portion of the revenue from renting to the church going to fund the school in the village.
Every year at BYU–Hawaii we get one Thursday off for the ‘Empower Your Dreams’...thing. But how many of us actually know what it is?
Empower Your Dreams is a business plan competition that uses a different strategy each year to get the ideas and businesses going. This year is a continuation of the ‘Great Ideas Competition’ in Fall semester 2014 and centers around crowdfunding, or raising money to turn ideas into actualities. The top three winners of each of the three categories this year win a money to help them get their business going, anywhere from $10,000 to $1,000. Which is why you may have one or more friends trying to get you to donate your cash.
One of the favorites this year is Houses of Hope, which is raising money to build houses for the LDS missionaries in the tiny islands of Vanuatu, with a large portion of the revenue from renting to the church going to fund the school in the village.
Because there is no public education in Vanuatu, all villages must pool their meager resources to build a schoolhouse, provide books, and pay a teacher. On top of that, 90% of all the citizens are subsistence farmers meaning that they grow their own food and build their houses out of materials they gather from the jungle. These combined circumstances make it nearly impossible for families to send more than one child to school, and only for a limited number of years because the cost of their education rises with every grade year. As recalled by William Arnett while serving an LDS mission in Vanuatu, those who aren’t able to gain an education often have regrets and sadness in this regard; they “yearned for an education even crying everyday when their brother could go off to school while they had to be left at home year after year”.
William, who served his mission in Vanuatu from 2011–2013, recalls how difficult it was for not only the local people, but for the missionaries as well:
“While serving as a missionary I was sent into a new area where 25 people had been baptized to create a new branch six hours away from any other branch in an area that had no roads and required a boat to get to. The new members had assured us that they had a house built for the missionaries to live in. When we arrived we found only half a house, there was a roof and two walls but sadly two of the walls where missing….The house had not been finished because of the financial situation of the natives. They had saved for months to build a house so the missionaries could come serve them but they had come up short. This situation is not at all unique, there are many villages who are yearning for the missionaries to come and serve them but they sadly do not have the money to build a house for the missionaries, I know of places that have gone years without the blessing of the missionaries because of this housing situation.”
The initial goal of the Houses of Hope crowdfunding is $8,000 to build the first 4 houses, and the project even has a donor committed to match every dollar raised up to $8,000! For every house built by Houses of Hope, 40 children will receive 10 years of education, and nearly 3,000–5,000 people will have the opportunity to hear the gospel. Best of all, this system is self-sustaining, meaning that as long as the Houses of Hope team receives their initial funding they will be able to build more houses in the future as the need arises, and the number of children able to receive an education will continue to grow.
To learn more and to donate, go to the Houses of Hope crowdfunding site. All donations are welcome, no matter how large or small.
Click here for more info about Empower Your Dreams and this year’s competition.
“While serving as a missionary I was sent into a new area where 25 people had been baptized to create a new branch six hours away from any other branch in an area that had no roads and required a boat to get to. The new members had assured us that they had a house built for the missionaries to live in. When we arrived we found only half a house, there was a roof and two walls but sadly two of the walls where missing….The house had not been finished because of the financial situation of the natives. They had saved for months to build a house so the missionaries could come serve them but they had come up short. This situation is not at all unique, there are many villages who are yearning for the missionaries to come and serve them but they sadly do not have the money to build a house for the missionaries, I know of places that have gone years without the blessing of the missionaries because of this housing situation.”
The initial goal of the Houses of Hope crowdfunding is $8,000 to build the first 4 houses, and the project even has a donor committed to match every dollar raised up to $8,000! For every house built by Houses of Hope, 40 children will receive 10 years of education, and nearly 3,000–5,000 people will have the opportunity to hear the gospel. Best of all, this system is self-sustaining, meaning that as long as the Houses of Hope team receives their initial funding they will be able to build more houses in the future as the need arises, and the number of children able to receive an education will continue to grow.
To learn more and to donate, go to the Houses of Hope crowdfunding site. All donations are welcome, no matter how large or small.
Click here for more info about Empower Your Dreams and this year’s competition.