Nearly thirty years ago Nola White served in the Peace Corps in Honduras, helping isolated mountain communities develop gravity-feed water systems. Later, she returned from time to time to visit her friends in these communities, and with each visit she was reminded of the things the communities needed that a modest amount of money could provide. In 2002, with a group of US friends, she founded HCSC, as a non-profit tax-exempt organization, to raise money for those things.

HCSC immediately sought participation from the folks we worked with, and by 2004 the Honduran Non Profit, Fundación Eco Verde Sostenible, or FECOVESO, had been formed and began to share Nola’s role. The Board of Directors is composed of elected representatives of the communities in which and for which the organization will hold and protect land, plus a representative of HCSC and from 1 to 3 other Hondurans committed to the organization’s mission. Their mission statement reads: “To support community efforts to protect the environment of Northwest Honduras and promote the health, education and well-being of the people.” By 2016 FECOVESO was ‘doing it all’ with little guidance from HCSC. With two part-time employees, the Board receives requests for the resources needed for community projects. They then participate in community planning meetings, help develop realistic project budgets, arrange for purchase of land or building materials, and sometimes help arrange further support from other organizations and government agencies. Projects have included...