The Immersion Fund is about fundraising with a purpose.
The Immersion Fund partners with the House of Hope, a place of refuge and dignity for many women in Managua, Nicaragua. We encourage participants who need to raise funds for their immersion trips to do fundraising with a purpose. Sure, there are lots of easy fundraising ideas out there like washing cars or selling popcorn. But wouldn’t you rather do fundraising with a purpose that goes beyond your own personal needs? Through the Purchase with a Purpose program participants can support the women at House of Hope by selling their hand-made jewelry and raise funds for their trip at the same time.
Meet the women at House of Hope who make all the jewelry we sell in our Purchase with a Purpose- Case of Hope immersion fundraiser.
In the video clip below Colleen introduces us to Maria, a woman who has experienced a life change at House of Hope. Through Maria’s story you can get a glimpse into what life is like at the House of Hope. Here is her story:
Why do we support the House of Hope?
Each week busloads of men, women and children come to the House of Hope compound to receive free medical attention. They are fitted with new glasses so they can read. They receive dental work so they can eat without pain. And their wounds are bandaged and healed.
Hundreds of women come to the Tuesday Morning program each week in search of work. These are women who would like to leave prostitution but need to find a new means of supporting themselves and their families. At the Tuesday Morning meetings these women are accepted into a loving community as they are taught a new skill and paid for their labor.
All who come to the House of Hope are invited to stay in the residency program. Over 60 women, like Maria, live and work at the House of Hope. As these ladies experience love and acceptance into a community, they are gaining skills to cook, clean, sew, bake, knit, and crochet. Residents also learn vocational skills to support their families.Their children are provided with uniforms so they can receive an education. Upon program graduation, residents leave House of Hope as completely new women and are given a key to their very own house. Some also receive a micro grant to expand their small business such as selling snacks and trinkets, doing laundry or baking.
It is because of stories like Maria’s that we have decided to partner with the House of Hope in our unique fundraising with a purpose program. We have been impacted by the sheer determination of these women to work hard to change the course of their lives and the lives of their children.
The Immersion Fund has two primary objectives, 1) to support marginalized communities in Central America by making purchases with a purpose, and 2) to scholarship students that want to interact face to face with these communities, but cannot financially afford to do so. Through the Cases of Hope fundraising with a purpose program we are able to meet both goals.
Women like Maria are the artists who make all the jewelry in the Cases of Hope. A Case of Hope is an assortment of hand-made jewelry made by women in the Tuesday Morning program. With each Case of Hope sold an artist is paid for her work and a student is supported to go on a Spanish immersion trip.
Immersion is the best way to learn a language and the students who fundraise and receive scholarships from the Immersion Fund are students who have a desire to serve the Spanish-speaking populations in their own home communities. These students get the chance to improve their Spanish while living with and learning about the lives and cultures of people in Central America. Without these scholarships, many students would not be able to attend these amazing immersion trips. Thank you for joining us in this endeavor to make a difference by fundraising with a purpose.
