Brooks’ World: Travel and Scholarships
Brooks’ World is a program that began in 2003 in memory of the son of the founder of Mohonk. Brooks was one of the most popular students at his high school and had traveled to many countries with his father and family. He passed away the evening he returned from a trip to Peru to adventure in the Amazon jungle and help the only orphanage in Lima, the capital of Peru. Brooks was sixteen years of age. The students raised over $25,000 by themselves in order to start a program in Brooks memory. Since then, Brooks’ World has sponsored children to visit their peers in other countries, and very year continues a large annual Christmas tree fundraiser.
AWARD/CONTEST/CHALLENGE
Call it what you will but the $10,000 in is not the real goal
Once again Mohonk will be offering awards of $5000, $3000, and $2000 to individual students or groups of students with the goal of creating a program that benefits or helps their community or any community world-wide.
The purpose of these awards is to demonstrate that, even more than the benefits they provide to communities, much can be done to simply bring out the best in others without the battle cry that “We need more money to get anything done!” Mohonk believes almost anything is possible when communities work together, and we also believe that children can show the way.
There are three criteria that are evaluated.
The number of students and community members that have volunteered to help bring the program to fruition. Example: 1. Students created an annual fund-raising road race to help children with cancer. It included a bake sale, contributions from supermarkets, professional race administrators, and the local police. 2. In the Philippines, children and teachers built the first library they ever had at their high school. They obtained the volunteer help of five professional builders. The total cost was $6,500! In the United States that is comparable to over $400,000.
The program should be sustainable by the students or community after the students are finished being part of its creation. Examples: 1. A well pump was created that involved adapting six stationary bicycles to pump water from an underground well in Nigeria. After it was done, the entire community became part of maintaining the bicycles and having the much-needed benefit of fresh water whenever they wanted. 2. Students started a recycling program at their high school that involved educating the public and involving families working together on a weekly basis.
The program must involve the least amount of money as possible. It could be thousands in donations or no financial donations at all. Examples: All of the above examples.
