StM Spanish Club selling bracelets for a good cause

This year at St. Martin’s Episcopal School, the Spanish Club is hosting a fundraiser called the Pulsera Project to support the unemployed people of Nicaragua. The Pulsera Project is a nonprofit organization that supports Central Americans by selling “pulseras,” or handwoven bracelets, according to their website.

These Nicaraguan artisans create the bracelets, and the organization helps send and sell them to schools in the United States.

The Spanish Club’s advisor, Upper School Spanish Teacher Teresa York, discovered the project through a Spanish teacher Facebook group.

“A lot of people would always talk about this project and how great it was and how exciting it was for their schools, so I recommended it to the club,” York said.

The goal of Spanish Club is to expose high school students to different Spanish cultures. The club puts on fundraisers and bake sales to raise money for organizations such as the Pulsera Project. This time, their aim was to help the people of Nicaragua.

“We did a significant amount of research and studying about the conditions of the people of Nicaragua,” said Spanish Club President Ellie Hurley. “We came to the conclusion that the best way for us to help them was through raising funds.”

Spanish Club plans to spread awareness of the initiative through an announcement in St. Martin’s weekly chapel service, as well as having a table set up for the bracelets, according to Hurley.

Overall, the club is aiming to expand the worldview of upper school students and encourage them to think about people in different parts of the globe. York believes this fundraiser has a special meaning and purpose.

“I think it’s to expose students to the idea of putting a face behind a product because every bracelet is going to have the name of the person who made it on it,” York said. “It’s a way for people to feel more empathetic.”