Higgins' 'Bachelor' Fame Helps Humanity & Hope Empower The People Of Honduras
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Turnout at “The Bachelor” season finale viewing party Monday night was light, with about 50 to 60 people in attendance, but it gave organizers a chance to share about the Humanity & Hope United Foundation. The fundraiser held in the Lakeview Middle School auditorium benefited the international non-profit organization. The Bachelor this season was 2008 Warsaw Community High School graduate Ben Higgins. Humanity & Hope President and Co-founder Riley Fuller has known Higgins since before he was The Bachelor or had appeared on last season’s “The Bachelorette,” as Higgins has been one of Jordan Fuller’s best friends for a long time. Jordan is Riley’s younger brother. After the season finale started Monday, Riley Fuller explained in an interview how Humanity & Hope came to be, how it helps the people of Honduras and Higgins’ involvement with it. “When I graduated from college, what I decided I wanted my life to be about was finance, so I went into investment banking, and that by its nature is all about money,” Fuller explained. “So as I got further and further into my career, despite the success I was having, I felt empty. I wasn’t using any of my talent for abilities that God has given me to do. Anything for anybody else in fact. I was just trying to get other people’s money.” Before Fuller had graduated from college, he had experience serving in Honduras. “I had an idea about how to make the whole experience a little bit deeper. So many organizations have tried so hard, but it just seemed elusive to really make a lasting change. Keeping that long-term transformation in mind is really the mindset we had when we started Humanity & Hope United,” Fuller said. “It came from my own personal emptiness and brokenness. I thought that it was impossible to contribute to my own joy, so I wanted to contribute to other people’s joy.” Higgins has been a part of Humanity & Hope since its inception. Jordan took Higgins on a trip to Honduras as soon as it started “and his heart got caught up in what we’re doing and so did his mom’s (Amy’s),” Fuller said. Since Higgins has became famous on the ABC romance reality show, he’s talked about his trip to Honduras and Humanity & Hope, giving it national exposure. “Basically, what it’s done for us, is it has greatly increased our ability to serve the people we serve in Honduras,” Fuller said. For example, he said, there are 10 girls and one boy in a village that did not have kids that went past sixth grade. Those 11 children are now going to school because of a connection that Higgins helped Humanity & Hope make and the funds he helped it raise. “There’s a new sheep business that the mothers of those students work in so they’re able to pay for their children to go to school,” Fuller said. There’s a village of about 150 people that now has clean water because of a donation that Higgins helped Humanity & Hope find. “So really transformative stuff. People being able to be healthy. Kids being able to go to school, adults being able to work. Really helping people find their purpose in life. Helping them feel stable because then our goal is to start talking about love – God’s love – which we believe is the real transformational force,” Fuller said. Admission to Monday’s event was $5, and raffle tickets also were sold for $5. Though Fuller would have liked to see a larger turnout, every dollar will help. “In Honduras, the average person makes about $2,000 per year. It’s a country of 8 million people and 5-1/2 million live on less than $2 a day,” Fuller stated. “So $300, what that means for us ... it means a whole lot of days of work. It only costs about 150 lempira – which is about $7.50 – to employ somebody for a day. And the people that earn that wage, it sounds like it’s very little, and frankly I wish it was higher, but they earn about 150 percent what normal people do. So $300, I wish more people were here so more people could see Ben, so more people could hear our message, but frankly, that $300 means a whole lot. That means about 45 days of work.” Fuller explained the days of work aren’t “disjointed.” When Humanity & Hope helps someone get a day of work, it helps that person create a business that is long term. So it’s likely those 45 days of work would go to the same person in one business. “Our goal is to go really deep where we are, not to spread our effect widely amongst a lot of people,” he said. Fuller said there is a long-term vision to Humanity & Hope. “Our long-term vision is that we just help change people’s lives permanently with love so that they reach their God-given potential. And our long-term vision is that they become passionate about serving other people and helping other people reach their God-given potential, too. So for us, the perfect scenario is that the people we serve are enacting the same kind of change with their neighbors,” Fuller stated. Any third-world country needs a ton of help. “So what it needs is a movement of people who are motivated by loving their neighbor so that’s what we’re trying to create,” Fuller explained. Higgins has made a long-term commitment to Humanity & Hope, Fuller indicated. “We don’t have a lot of specifics, but I know that if I need Ben’s help with something and that it is consistent with our vision as a non-profit and (with) his vision, then he’s always willing to help. I’ve never asked him for help and he’s not helped,” he said. Fuller said what he’s really passionate about is inviting people to come down to Honduras to serve with them. “For me, before I went down there as an American, I was just so focused on my own problems. When I started focusing on helping other people solve theirs, it made mine feel less. It made mine feel less heavy. So I just want to help introduce other people to that kind of service, whether it’s with Humanity & Hope United or other non-profits. What this world needs is more people loving their neighbors,” he said. For more on Humanity & Hope, visit its website at humanityandhopeunited.org
