In 2007, Bridges to Community sent over 900 volunteers from North America and other parts of the world to live and work in a community in Nicaragua, to learn and grow, and to be a part of our ongoing efforts to build global awareness, empower positive change and growth, and help people achieve a better life both here and there. Be a part of that effort next year with your contribution.

Help offer micro-loans to start or continue small, family businesses, such as making tortillas and bread, starting or expanding home based all-purpose shops and to begin vulcanization workshops…just to name a few. The small business owners partaking in this project will also participate in training on managing small businesses.

Common health problems in rural communities often become serious when patients have to travel long distances to get medical attention. Unfortunately, this is the case for many families in Nicaragua. Your donation will help get medical attention to people who would not receive it otherwise. By sponsoring a health center, families will have a viable chance to proper medical attention with trained professionals.

Bridges to Community believes that safe and dignified housing is a basic human right. Moving families from shacks to sturdy cinderblock homes provides safety, better health and dignity.

Education is the foundation from which individuals can begin to build a stable future and realize their dreams. This initiative will provide support for a primary school classroom.

Help subsidize the construction of wells, and nearby washboards with small cisterns to keep soap and detergent away from the water source and maintain hygienic conditions at the wells.

Directly impact the income of a family. Your donation will provide loans for the allowance or diversification of cattle through the purchase of a cow.

Improve the nutrition of twenty children in a community through the weekly service of healthy, locally made and produced meals. This project will also help maintain the health of local children by providing training to parents about nutrition.

Most schools in Nicaragua do not have the infrastructure necessary to prepare food and store it in a safe, hygienically place. The school kitchen project includes the construction of an improved- smokeless stove, a pantry to store food and supplies and a covered area to cook under. This project is regarded by educators as an important way to increase student motivation as well as parents involvement in their child’s education.

Gravity-fed water systems take advantage of springs in the community to bring a constant water source close to the house. Beneficiary families will also build cement water basins. Women and girls in particular benefit from this project as carrying water for the family is usually women’s labor in rural communities.

Provide much needed support for the future of Nicaragua by providing proper wages to educators.

Directly impact the income of a family. Your donation will provide loans for the allowance or diversification of cattle through the purchase of pigs.

Help a family repair or replace an existing house structure in the community. Loans solicited will be used for the construction of roofs, walls or kitchen areas.

The Nicaraguan Ministry of Education has found that only 40% of students enrolled in the first grade actually continue their studies to fifth grade. Your support of a child's education will give them an opportunity to beat the odds.

Support an existing community pharmacy to expand its variety and quantity of medicines. When community members are ill, they will be able to buy medicine directly in their community instead of needing to invest in a trip to the city.

Protect a family from illness during the rainy season buy placing a new roof on a home.

Help establish a small block factory in a community with limited economic opportunities. Bridges to Community would provide support for this project through a small loan, technical accompaniment, and monitoring.

In the communities where Bridges works, there are over 150 families without latrines. Bridges builds latrines in accordance with national construction and health standards. The latrine base and shelter are mobile so they can be moved when a new latrine pit is necessary. The construction of latrines will improve community sanitation.

Support a student getting a technical certificate and/or degree in computation, construction, etc. Scholarship recipients must meet program requirements including maintaining a 80% or above grade average, good behavior and giving back to their community.

Farm diversification will help farmers start or expand alternative crop cultivation using organic methods.

Help put a floor under a family's feet by providing a new home with ceramic tiles.

Smoke reducing stoves utilize a chimney that allows the smoke to escape directly outdoors, thus decreasing the amount that is breathed in by the cook and their family. These stoves are also more fuel efficient, requiring less firewood. Through decreasing use of firewood, this component will also contribute to environmental sustainability.

Cacao is a successful and sustainable cash crop in Nicaragua. When you help provide seeds to a family, you also give hope and create much needed income.

Provide a family with potable water for drinking and storage by donating a water filter and a rain water storage basin. This tackles two obstacles that communities face: access to constant close-by water sources and the need for potable water for consumption.

For most families living in the US, a door may be a common household object, yet the majority of Nicaraguan families have never owned a conventional door. Provide a family with the door that will lead them into their new home and life.

Reforestation as related to our projects is central not only to soil protection but also water source protection. By sponsoring a reforestation project, you will help individual families get revolving loans to buy seeds and start tree nurseries.

Without cement building a new house is impossible. Provide a family with this very important ingredient which will ensure a safe and sturdy home.

Help provide communities with loans for seeds to reforest around local water sources. Families will also be offered subsidized revolving loans to build fences that prevent animals from defecating close to water sources. This project will also address the pollution of rivers with contaminants.

Help empower a community by building strong leadership and the knowledge to develop their own sustainable and successful businesses.

Contribute to the walls that will shelter a family by donating blocks for a new house.

Provide ten of the 80 patients seen per day with medicine during a Bridges Medical Brigade.

A community garden will help produce organic vegetables, increase local food security, and actively engage school children while providing gardening, composting and nutrition education.