Hug IT Forward Inc.

Filing Period

Jan 1, 2012 to Dec 31, 2012

Signed

Aug 12, 2013

Return Version

2012v2.0

Gross Receipts

$252,890

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

BOTTLE SCHOOL WORKSHOPS. Hug It Forward's goal is to share the bottle school technology, so that communities across Guatemala and all over the world can build their own bottle school, wherever there is a need. Hug It Forward volunteers have compiled the Bottle School Manual, a step-by-step guide to every stage of a bottle school project, from organizing and empowering a community to every part of the construction process. This Manual is available for free to anybody in any community or organization who would like to build a bottle school. In this way, we are able to share with the world the benefits of the experience and expertise we have been fortunate to gain in facilitating successful bottle school projects over the past three years. Alongside the Bottle School Manual, we facilitate workshops and training events where masons, teachers and community leaders can learn about all aspects of the bottle school construction process. In this way, the bottle school methodology can spread organically, and community members can empower themselves to build bottle schools in a way that is more sustainable than if Hug It Forward were to try to directly build all the schools that are needed.

Activity 3

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION PROGRAM. In conjunction with bottle school projects, Hug It Forward also facilitates an environmental education program for youth, working with all the communities that participate in a bottle school project. Children provide the majority of the unskilled labor in collecting inorganic trash and creating "eco-bricks". Children build their school with their own hands, giving them real ownership and pride in the realization of the project. Environmental education is an essential part of the bottle school process, ensuring that the project's impact will be sustainable and that communities remain free of trash long into the future. Through the environmental education program, children learn to understand the difference between organic and inorganic trash, along with the major risks of plastic pollution in their environment and in the world. The intention of this process is to leave a lasting impact of the bottle school, helping to create awareness of environmental sustainability for future generations to come in these communities and beyond. Hug It Forward's vision is of communities free of piles of inorganic trash on the roadsides, across the countryside, and in waterways, and free of piles of trash being burned for cooking and heating. Education around the impact of trash on the local environment is just the beginning. These lessons and conversations open the door for discussions around other major environmental issues facing communities across Guatemala and the world, such as deforestation, mining, and pollution of air and waterways. Hug It Forward believes in the power of the youth to change the world. Environmental issues provide a pathway to expose youth to questions around social justice, as well as a means to unite young people across communities in their own backyards and in other countries.

Filer

EIN

27-0909586