[HOT] Tremendous response to our HOT Summit scholarship outreach!

[Blake Girardot]

Hi everyone,

It was not too many days ago I wrote you all about the HOT Summit 2015 
Scholarship program and I am very happy to say the response has been 
pretty overwhelming. It is a very diverse group of HOT community members 
representing about 13 countries so far.

The application form is short, but let me tell you: the list of things 
the mappers are doing around the world is as long as my arm. Amazing 
people working in challenging circumstances to empower their friends, 
families, colleagues and whole communities for this generation and the 
next. They are working on their priorities according to their needs and 
circumstances. They are literally rolling up their sleeves and changing 
our world for the better while building local skills and knowledge to 
ensure the positive change keeps happening.

I think I speak for the whole scholarship committee when I say, after 
reading the applications to date, there is no applicant that we want to 
say no to. The dedication, enthusiasm and optimism shared with us so far 
is inspiring and touching. I wish we could share the scholarship 
applications with you so you could read the incredible work people are 
doing.

We are budgeting USD$2500 for a full scholarship (all travel, lodging 
and daily meals covered). That is a lot of money for just about anybody. 
But when I read about what our community members are doing in their 
local communities, the impact they are having, the lives they are 
improving, the future they are creating, I realize that 2500 dollars is 
a great bargain for the results it will generate in every corner of the 
globe.

If you as an individual can donate to HOT to sponsor any part of a 
scholarship or where you work or a local civic group you are member of 
can help donate to HOT to sponsor our scholarships, please do it. You 
will be directly touching lives and helping build a better future for 
all of us. We do not want to turn down any applicants. Please help us 
bring the global HOT community together to learn from and inspire each 
other and then carry that experience back around the world to spread 
their knowledge and map their futures.

The HOT Summit website has details about what sponsoring at different 
levels will "get you" as far as the conference goes and that is great, 
especially as a business, you will get your name out there in a lasting 
way and to a big audience who will know you made a tangible difference 
in a lot of lives by helping sponsor a scholarship. But those rewards 
are nothing compared to knowing you directly joined with someone, 
probably far away from where you live, to help give them the tools and 
knowledge to build and empower their community. You will have dozens, 
maybe hundreds, of friends you will never know or meet in some far away 
part of the world who share your love of mapping and value the 
difference it can make in peoples lives.

You can do this right now, any amount you can contribute will be 
earmarked only for scholarships, only for helping bring people to this 
important first global gathering of the HOT Community.

Here is a PayPal link, you can donate any amount there, you don't need a 
PayPal account. If you donate enough to reach one of the official 
sponsorship levels, we will know and follow up right away. You can also 
just send us your phone number and we will call and can make 
arrangements to accept your donation some other way, phone, check, money 
order, wire transfer, etc, whatever way you want to contribute, we can 
do that. HOT US Inc. is, of course, a registered non-profit so donations 
are deductible from US taxes.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=WHLAW3RX92BNL

or

http://summit.hotosm.org/sponsor/

Please, if you are able, help us achieve our goal of not having to 
decline any scholarship applications.

Best wishes,
Blake
HOT Mapper and HOT Summit 2015 Helper