The Habele Outer Island Education Fund has released initial accounting numbers for fiscal year 2007. According to Habele Treasurer Tom Lutte, more than 90 cents of each dollar spent went directly to K-12 scholarships and library development in the Outer Islands of Micronesia.

One of the keys to Habele’s efficiency is the fact that we have no paid employees explained Lutte. The Fund spent roughly $6,300 in FY 2007. The breakdown by category was:

58% - Scholarships
33% - Library Development
5% - Domestic Postage & Printing
4% - Fees and Dues

The Fund was able to use this money to finance two complete scholarships (tuition, room, and board) to the prestigious Bethania High School in Palau for low-income students on Ulithi. Habele also made ten shipments of books and school supplies to public school libraries in the islands.

It is frustrating that we had to pay money to the state in fees and that we have unavoidable fixed costs like website hosting and our PO Box, noted Neil Mellen, President, but we are lucky that so many donors give time and talent - the content of our beautiful website, habele.org, is a great example of such a donation.

A more detailed analysis of these figures will be included in the 2007 Annual Report, which will be released by the Habele Board of Directors in early January 2008.

Habele is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of educational opportunities and accomplishment in the remote Outer Islands of Micronesia. Visit habele.org to learn more.

December 8th 2007 | Covina California

A group of students at Covina High School in California are mailing off an early Christmas Gift to fellow pupils in the Central Pacific nation of Micronesia. The gift, a collection of lightly-used text books, has been assembled as a donation for a public school on the remote Atoll of Ulithi, located 360 miles southwest of the American territory of Guam.

”The service club Interact worked with our campus library to compile the donation from books that we no longer had any use for” explained Mr. Sean Fox, the Covina High teacher who helped to coordinate the donation.

“I was familiar with the islands, once part of the United States' Trust Territory, as the result of stories I heard from one of my own former teachers, Jim Boykin.”

The more than one dozen boxes full of books are now enroute to the remote Outer Islands High School (OIHS) which is attended by students from the islands of Falalop, Mogmog, Federai, Asor and Fais in the state of Yap. This donation, and other similar projects, is part of the effort of the Habele Outer Island Education Fund to promote educational opportunity and advancement in Micronesia.

“I came across Habele on the Internet when researching stories about my former mentor Jim Boykin,” Fox explains, “I was really impressed that a group of former Peace Corps volunteers had set up a charity to serve these tiny and often-overlooked islands. I thought about how I might be able to pitch in and remembered that our school always seemed to have stacks of old textbooks lying around.”

Habele, a nonprofit incorporated in the State of South Carolina, awards performance-based scholarships to high school students in Micronesia in addition to marshalling donations of books and school supplies.

“This is a great chance for students in the US to connect with and help out their under-resourced peers in the Federated States of Micronesia” said Tom Lutte, Habele’s Treasurer and a former Peace Corps Volunteer who served in Micronesia. “The OIHS teachers and students make do with very limited materials, often with a single book for three or four students to share. These full classroom sets of texts will make a big impact.

Anyone interested in helping to pay for the cost of shipping the books to Micronesia is encouraged to visit www.habele.org and make a donation.

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A recent email to Habele explains:

I just saw your website and wanted to say thank you for all you are doing for the kids on the outer islands. I am from Eauripik and now reside in Washington state and it is good to know that people are doing good things for the kids on the islands. I enjoyed looking at the pictures you have on the website.

I will make a donation to your organization in the future.

Thanks again,
David H.

Habele wants to extend its to thanks to David for his kinds words, as well as to all the other generous Micronesians living in the United States who are eager to to extend the opportunities of education to their fellow islanders. Sa chigchig!