The Pulsera Project

Spanish Club is in the midst of The Pulsera Project, lasting from Dec. 5 through Dec. 16. The project involves selling handmade bracelets for $5 each in order to raise sustainable money for Nicaraguan, Ugandan and Guatemalan citizens. They received several bags filled with approximately 500 bracelets, about 500 they estimate, and have already sold about half.

The Pulsera Project is a non-profit organization that brings the bracelets from villages in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Ugandato sell in various locations all around the U.S. The five board members of Spanish Club — juniors Kirsten Erickson, Kelly Romer, Mary Beth Eddy, Isabella Kloster and Isabel Epstein — decided to bring the project to East after a revival of the club earlier this year.

“I think it’s a really good program to make people more aware of Spanish Club at East,” Romer said. ”It’s also a really good service opportunity for people interested in Latin American culture and who want to help out with that. It’s a low-maintenance project, and it’s easy to obtain the bracelets.”

The bracelets are made from a variety of materials, including thread, coffee beans and recycled magazines. If all the bracelets are sold before the end of the week, the board members will order more bracelets, probably about 500 more.

“A lot of people at East are really excited about it. They love the bracelets,” Erickson said. “They’re really beautiful.”

While raising money is a benefit of the project, the board members are also focused on making sure this is a continuous, annual project.

“I think our goal is to make it a project that people continue for years at East because doing it once is fine but making it a continuous thing really benefits them,” Erickson said.

The bracelets will be sold throughout next week during all lunches.