For those who have donated supplies to schools in Roatan...

[Carolinagirl82]

What did you donate?

 

I've gathered up loose notebook paper, pencils, erasers, glue sticks, scissors, and crayons. What am I missing?

 

Also, how does this work? I mean, do we just drop the stuff off with a person in the office or go to a classroom...what?

[firefly333]

Iv been asking. I read you put it all into a regular backpack, dont go thru customs, and drop off the whole backpack at a ophanage that Victor Bodden's guys know where it is. Iv wanted to do this too. I hope you get some feedback.

[denrusk]

We had a cab driver take us to a school close to port. He went in first and talked to the teacher, then we went into the classroom and our 11 year old son handed out the supplies directly to the kids. They absolutely loved it! We brought mostly boxes of crayons, pencils, coloring books, glue sticks and alot of small tubes of hand sanitizer. We packed a good size suitcase full and then used that bag to bring back souvenirs in. Whenever someone asks us about our cruise, this is the story our son tells them about. It was a great time.

[Martini Mom]

We had a cab driver take us to a school close to port. He went in first and talked to the teacher, then we went into the classroom and our 11 year old son handed out the supplies directly to the kids. They absolutely loved it! We brought mostly boxes of crayons, pencils, coloring books, glue sticks and alot of small tubes of hand sanitizer. We packed a good size suitcase full and then used that bag to bring back souvenirs in. Whenever someone asks us about our cruise, this is the story our son tells them about. It was a great time.

How awesome!

[lcgvol]

We were in Roatan last week and used Victor Bodden Tours. Our driver was Big Al. He was great. He told us about the schools there. All students are required to wear uniforms, if they don't, they are made to pick up trash. There are also so many students they go to school in shifts. Younger ones go from 6:30am to 1:30 pm. High school goes from 2:30pm to 10:30pm. Their school year runs from Feb-Nov with Dec and Jan being vacation months. He took our school supplies, which we just carried on the ship, and said he lived right beside a school so he'd take them. Another interesting note, if the kids are caught outside after 10 pm which is curfew, they are taken to jail. Their parents have to pay $80 to get them out and do 3 days community service.

[stressedmomof3]

If anyone could post more information about how to go about doing this my family of 5 would be thrilled to do this for some children too. Our trip is not until 2012- but it would give us alot of time to aquire supplies to bring with us on our tour;)

[Carolinagirl82]

Iv been asking. I read you put it all into a regular backpack, dont go thru customs, and drop off the whole backpack at a ophanage that Victor Bodden's guys know where it is. Iv wanted to do this too. I hope you get some feedback.

 

We have Tex as our driver through Bodden tours while in Roatan, so I'm sure he'll know what to do. How would we not go through customs?

 

We had a cab driver take us to a school close to port. He went in first and talked to the teacher, then we went into the classroom and our 11 year old son handed out the supplies directly to the kids. They absolutely loved it! We brought mostly boxes of crayons, pencils, coloring books, glue sticks and alot of small tubes of hand sanitizer. We packed a good size suitcase full and then used that bag to bring back souvenirs in. Whenever someone asks us about our cruise, this is the story our son tells them about. It was a great time.

 

That's so cool! And it really teaches kids to appreciate what they have, I think.:) I know my girls will really enjoy doing this.

 

We were in Roatan last week and used Victor Bodden Tours. Our driver was Big Al. He was great. He told us about the schools there. All students are required to wear uniforms, if they don't, they are made to pick up trash. There are also so many students they go to school in shifts. Younger ones go from 6:30am to 1:30 pm. High school goes from 2:30pm to 10:30pm. Their school year runs from Feb-Nov with Dec and Jan being vacation months. He took our school supplies, which we just carried on the ship, and said he lived right beside a school so he'd take them. Another interesting note, if the kids are caught outside after 10 pm which is curfew, they are taken to jail. Their parents have to pay $80 to get them out and do 3 days community service.

 

WOW!

[LizzieTrowbridge]

We visited a school in Roatan last week while on the carnival Dream. We brought art/school supplies, band aids, jump ropes, bubbles, etc. We filled a large backpack and carried it right off the ship. We used Victor Bodden tours and our driver took us to a small school where our daughters visited a Kindergarten class and gave the children all the supplies and stayed to play and observe the school in session. It was a wonderful experience and as another poster said, the highlight of our cruise!

 

Another idea would be to ask your driver to take you to a grocery store to buy food supplies to deliver to an orphanage. there is an orphanage close to the port.

 

Even with spending several hours visiting the school we had time to visit the moneys and spend a few hours at the beach. Glad to hear others are interested in this type of community service. The tuition at the school we visited was $40 US dollars a year and even at this price there are families who can't afford the school.

[Lady_Jag]

We made the school one of our stops on our private tour with Rony Bennet. I hit the Target back-to-school clearance (75%-90% off!) months before our trip and got a couple of backpacks, lots of spiral notebooks, crayons, glue, safety scissors, rulers, hand sanitizer, pencils, pens, markers, pencil sharpeners, erasers, flash cards, and a few other items I don't recall right now.

 

(Yeah, those backpacks were HEAVY, but one of the great things about driving to port is that you don't have to pay overweight baggage fees. :D)

 

ETA - When we did "the drop" we were asked to bring the supplies to the school library, so that they could be divided up among the students. We also got to tour the school a bit.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Lady_Jag

[cali715howe]

I am interested in filling up a backpack with supplies going to Honduras Jan 2019. Any idea who to contact n where to deliver?

[Mommawo]

Wow this sounds amazing!!!! I am gonna have to research this a bit

[Mommawo]

If anyone could post more information about how to go about doing this my family of 5 would be thrilled to do this for some children too. Our trip is not until 2012- but it would give us alot of time to aquire supplies to bring with us on our tour;)

 

 

Did you end up doing this ?

[bnorris10]

We made the school one of our stops on our private tour with Rony Bennet. I hit the Target back-to-school clearance (75%-90% off!) months before our trip and got a couple of backpacks, lots of spiral notebooks, crayons, glue, safety scissors, rulers, hand sanitizer, pencils, pens, markers, pencil sharpeners, erasers, flash cards, and a few other items I don't recall right now.

 

(Yeah, those backpacks were HEAVY, but one of the great things about driving to port is that you don't have to pay overweight baggage fees. :D)

 

ETA - When we did "the drop" we were asked to bring the supplies to the school library, so that they could be divided up among the students. We also got to tour the school a bit.

 

 

We are booking a tour with Rony and want to visit the Orphanage and was curious how we would bring stuff ... Do you think the orphange or the school would be better? And what about candy can we bring that as I know the kids that we send stuff to in Nicauragua are thrilled whenever we send candy

[Kitty9453]

We are booking a tour with Rony and want to visit the Orphanage and was curious how we would bring stuff ... Do you think the orphange or the school would be better? And what about candy can we bring that as I know the kids that we send stuff to in Nicauragua are thrilled whenever we send candy

 

Check the website Family Travel Network dot Com for Roatan Honduras. It lists items needed at different schools & medicals clinics. Victor Bodden sent me this website.

[o-state girl]

The Rotary Club also operates the info booth at the port. They will accept school supply donations and then coordinate their disbursement. Another good resource is rotatanchildrensfund dot com. We have donated supplies on three different occasions. The first time we had a couple of small backpacks full so we didn't go through customs. The second time we had 8 boxes full of supplies and the third we had two large rolling duffel bags full. We figured that much stuff would raise red flags while we were trying to debark, so we went to guest services a couple days beforehand and coordinated the customs paperwork with them. We met the Honduran officials in the dining room that morning before we got off in port. Easy peasy either way.

[cali715howe]

Thanks for info

[bnorris10]

I worked out a tour myself and he is going to gather up 20 children for us that he knows can use the supplies since it can be hit or miss if you even get to see the kids at a school or orphanage ... We were planning on putting everything in drawstring bags - so 20 bags figured with 4 of us we could each carry 5 bags .. Do you think this will be a hassle getting off the ship?

[o-state girl]

I would put the drawstring bags in a beach bag or a backpack to make it a little less obvious as you get off the ship. Just carry the empty bags back to the ship, donate them, or fill them with some goodies like coffee from the local grocery store or other souvenirs.

[teknoge3k]

We just did this last month in Belize. Our guide for the day was David Castillo and he knew we wanted to donate supplies. We took paper, pencils, erasers, glue sticks, and scissors. While we were out and about, we stopped by the school. The teacher allowed us to come into the classroom, interact with the students, donate the supplies and spend some time there. It was a GREAT experience. I do know in Roatan if you go with Rony's you can just tell your driver you want to donate supplies and they will take you to where you want to donate.

[bnorris10]

I would put the drawstring bags in a beach bag or a backpack to make it a little less obvious as you get off the ship. Just carry the empty bags back to the ship, donate them, or fill them with some goodies like coffee from the local grocery store or other souvenirs.

 

We are actually planning on just filling the bags with goodies for each child then they keep the entire bag with everything in it

[bnorris10]

We just did this last month in Belize. Our guide for the day was David Castillo and he knew we wanted to donate supplies. We took paper, pencils, erasers, glue sticks, and scissors. While we were out and about, we stopped by the school. The teacher allowed us to come into the classroom, interact with the students, donate the supplies and spend some time there. It was a GREAT experience. I do know in Roatan if you go with Rony's you can just tell your driver you want to donate supplies and they will take you to where you want to donate.

 

Rony's is who we booked our tour with

[o-state girl]

We are actually planning on just filling the bags with goodies for each child then they keep the entire bag with everything in it

 

 

I just meant that it might be easier to stuff 4 or 5 bags inside of a bigger bag like a large backpack or beach bag. That way it would be less obvious that you were carrying anything besides the items you might need for a day at the beach, and it might be easier to manage while getting off the ship and in and out of your tour vehicle. We've donated in Roatan a few times (the last time on a tour with Rony), and we carted our stuff off the ship in a rolling duffel bag.

[DukeASUGirl]

Anyone know if you could do this in other ports or is this just something people do in Roatan? I'd love for my kids to go school supplies shopping before our Ensenada cruise. It would be a fantastic addition to our day -- very meaningful.

[teknoge3k]

Anyone know if you could do this in other ports or is this just something people do in Roatan? I'd love for my kids to go school supplies shopping before our Ensenada cruise. It would be a fantastic addition to our day -- very meaningful.

 

As I mentioned earlier, I did this in Belize last month. I imagine you can donate in any ports you visit. Usually any school (including in the US) welcomes donations.

[Bumper and Me]

packforapurpose.org has opportunities for donations.  Also check out familytravelnetwork.com

 

Several ships have tours that allow you to visit local schools, and make donations. I know Carnival has one called "Giving Back" or something like that for some ports of call.