When: Monday, February 6, 6pm – 7pm

The next chapter meeting for EWB-Chicago will be on Tuesday, January 31st, at 6:00 pm., at 190 S. LaSalle, 37th Floor in Chicago, IL.

You can add the meeting to your calendar using the Google Calendar link on our homepage. Feel free to subscribe to the EWB-Chicago calendar to stay up-to-date on chapter meetings and happenings.

If you’ve never been to a meeting and are interested in Engineers Without Borders, this couldn’t be a better time to get involved. You do not need to be a member to attend a meeting, though chances are you’ll want to be a member afterwards!

What happens at a meeting, you ask? Typically, we start off with a 20-30 minute presentation addressing a project, sustainable technology, or another topic of interest to our members. After this presentation our committee heads and project managers report on their activities, ask for volunteers for specific tasks, and if necessary bring up an item for vote.  Afterwards we socialize and coordinate the next steps for our chapter.

Attending a meeting is the best way to start getting involved. Be sure to introduce yourself, grab a seat at the table, and ask questions!

Any money donated through the EWB-USA website, or with the mail-in form available on the same website, will be matched dollar for dollar up to $10,000 for our chapter, or until the matching funds run out.

50% of the match will go towards our chapter and the other half will go to EWB national.

There is a $5,000 prize each for the chapter that raises the most money as well as the chapter that has the most individual donations, so even giving $10 helps!

If you have any questions please contact: Jeff : fundraising at ewb-usa-chicago dot org or Dennis: treasurer at ewb-usa-chicago dot org.

1. Go to the EWB-USA membership page. Information on renewing is at the bottom of the page.
2. When selecting a chapter, pick “Chicagoland Professionals” to be assigned to our chapter.
3. If you have any issues renewing or joining, send an email to membership@ewb-usa.org .

That’s it! We look forward to seeing  you at a chapter meeting in the future. Don’t hesitate to say hello, whether it’s your first time or haven’t been to a meeting in a spell. There are a lot of great opportunities coming up this spring, and EWB-Chicago is lucky to have you!

The Chicagoland Professionals Chapter of Engineers Without Borders (“EWB”) would appreciate your support of our current fundraising campaign.  EWB-USA, will match donations that our chapter receives by January 15, 2012, dollar-for-dollar until its matching funds are exhausted.  EWB-USA will also award bonuses of $5,000 to the chapter with the most donors and $5,000 to the chapter that raises the most money by January 15, 2012.

If we act QUICKLY every donation can be doubled and donations of any amount can help us win the bonuses!

Please support our chapter one of the following ways:

- donating on-line at:   https://ssl.charityweb.net/ewbusa/yearend.htm

- sending a check to EWB-USA with the attached “Donate by Mail” form, or

- sending a check payable to EWB-USA to me and I’ll do the rest

If you choose to donate, please allocate the funds to the Chicago Professionals Chapter and donate today – before the matching funds run out.

More information about the programs that have made the Chicagoland Professional Chapter an EWB  “Premiere Chapter” in 2011 and that we will continue to support with your contribution is attached.  Please let me know if you have any questions or would like any additional information.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Jeff Hamera

Contact Jeff HERE

To get more information download these PDFs:

http://ewb-usa-chicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/EWB-Fundraising-Appeal.pdf

http://ewb-usa-chicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2011-YearEndCampaign-DonateByMail.pdf

http://theoriginalwinger.com/2011-09-26-engineers-without-borders

“When we launched our 32 Panels program, one of the things we felt was key to really making it a success was the involvement of the community. We asked for all of you to help us by identifying organizations that could use the donation of soccer balls. Since we launched this a little over a week ago, we have received a number of emails from people with ideas about where we can send soccer balls. It’s been incredible to read some of the emails and engage with those of you who have been sending them in. I wanted to share a little bit about one of those emails here.

One of the first emails we received about the 32 Panels program was from Dan from Engineers Without Borders. Here is some of what he told me.

I recently read about your new 32 panels initiative and I think it is a great idea.  I am a soccer player, fan and I agree with your goals for the program.  I am also a member of a non-profit organization called Engineers Without Borders.  The organization works with poor communities around the world helping them develop their local infrastructure for basic improvements such as running water and waste removal that we as Americans take for granted every day.  Our chapter here in Chicago does most of our work in Central America where soccer is by far the favorite sport of the young people we get to meet on our projects.  I would take a guess that 99.99% of the communities we have worked with have a local soccer program that rarely have the basic soccer equipment to develop their players.  We have actually been helping a community in Honduras raise money for jerseys, and on our last project (a bridge) we donated some of our time to help them put in new goal posts.

The village is called Canchias, located in the state of Comayagua, Honduras.  It is a very poor, rural area in the central mountainous region of the country.  The town is actually centered around a school and the soccer field that you see in the pictures.  Our most recent project was the construction of a vehicular bridge connecting the village to some developing farmland.  During our trips to build the bridge this spring our members took time to play soccer with the team and meet other members of the community.  We donated our backhoe for a few hours one day to allow them to build a small retaining wall to keep the edge of the field from falling into the road.  We also donated lumber and cement so they could build new goalposts.  The new goals are not in the pictures, unfortunately.  We are also raising money to donate some new jerseys.

One of the toughest things we do when we enter a new community is to gain the support of the citizens and get them excited about our projects.  I see soccer as being a great way to find common ground among very different cultures.

These are the types of stories that are happening all around the world. People and organizations getting involved and giving back. Doing their part to help improve the lives of people around the world. And the fact that soccer can help play a part in all of this is pretty powerful. Thank you for the email Dan, we are looking forward to working with you and EWB Chicago chapter.

We also look forward to continuing to hear from more of you with your ideas for other organizations, schools, clubs, etc that we can work with.”

Las Cruces is a town of 17,000 people located in a largely deforested former jungle region of Petén in northern Guatemala. In recent years flooding has increased, causing significant hardship for the townspeople. In October 2008, the town was devastated by a flood that displaced over 7000 inhabitants.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE FOR LAS CRUCES, GUATEMALA

Following the 2008 flood, the people of Las Cruces elected a Drainage Commission to study the problem and propose solutions. The Commission expressed the need for additional support from trained professionals.  Therefore, EWB was contacted by Concern America, a nonprofit international development agency that had been working in Las Cruces since 1994. Concern America asked that EWB help the Las Cruces Drainage Commission analyze the problem and develop solutions.

The team plans to return to Las Cruces in late 2011 to discuss the preliminary design with the community. The EWB team will work with the community to resolve outstanding issues such as easements, and to modify the design as necessary to address local concerns.

The Guatemalan planning agency indicated that a formal proposal for funding of the project would be entertained. Our hope is to obtain partial funding from international donors, including EWB, to increase the likelihood of the project being fully funded and implemented by the community with the support of the Guatemalan government.

REQUEST LAS CRUCES FACT SHEET

Sue Smith is looking for dragon boat team members for the St. Charles, Illinois, Dragon Boat Races Saturday, June 11 . Our 20-member “World Dragons” crew paddles to the beat of our drummer in intense 1 1/2 minute heats. We race 2 to 3 times during the day, the rest of the time hanging out on shore with the Engineers, Rotarians, college students and friends who comprise our EWB-Rotary team. It is an all-day commitment beginning with a required team training session starting at 8am and races as long as our team qualifies. The day provides physical fun through short on-water sprints, camaraderie and a cultural introduction to China’s number one sport – dragon boat racing. Minimum age is 14, maximum weight 200 and no experience is necessary.

Please mail $36 per person for yourself and anyone else who plans on coming with you to paddle. Send the check(s) asap to:

Sue Smith

1501 Greenleaf #2

Evanston, IL 60202

Make your check payable to Mississippi River Adventures, Inc. (It’s a 501 c3 organization) The $36 includes registration, training, minimum 2 races, team t-shirt and 8:00am snacks. Lunch plans will be worked out later. Checks are due by May 12 for the St. Charles races to guarantee a seat on our dragon boat team. Google: Pride of the Fox St. Charles for festival information.

Please email or call soon if you have any questions.

Sue 847 864 2481 suesmithbak@gmail.com

On Saturday, August 6 you are also invited to paddle on our World Dragons team in Niles, Michigan.  Contact Sue for more information, or check back here in a few weeks for details!

• Journal 1

• Journal 2

A new photo gallery for the Canchias project has also added to the blog and can be found towards the top of the main blog page here: ewb-usa-chicago.org/blog