Eddie O'Toole improves Honduras, one school bus at a time 2/16/07

Albany, NY – In 1979, Eddie O'Toole was sent by the Peace Corps to the town of Guaimaca, Honduras. He lived with a family of fifteen children in a house with dirt floors, little electricity, and an out-house in the backyard. But the warmth and hospitality he received stayed with him, and in 1996 Eddie and his wife and daughter went back to Honduras to volunteer in the community. More than anything, Eddie and his family wanted to build a school for the town, but they needed more money and physical resources like doors, sinks, toilets, mirrors, and lights. So Eddie returned to the Berkshires, collected everything he could find, and packed it all into a retired Boston school bus. He shipped the bus from a Delaware port, met it in Honduras, and helped to build the New Hope Training Center. Over the past 11 years, Eddie has sent four school buses filled with everything from filing cabinets, to tables and chairs, to microscopes, paper and clothing to Honduras and has even partnered with the Chiquita banana company to send items in banana crates.