Porolissum Prietenie

We provide varying forms of assistance to needy communities around the world. Assistance may come in the form of building projects, volunteers, supplies, monetary assistance, or any other form of help a community may need. Building Families. Building Communities. Building Friendships.

During the summer of 2008, Erin Colshan was interning on an archaeological dig in Porolissum-Moigrad, Romania. Field schools during the summer months brought groups of international students participating in the archaeological digs which resulted in lot of financial support coming into the community. This support was very seasonal, and once the students left, the support ended until the next summer. The local museum director and lead archaeologist became a dear friend and mentor to Erin, and encouraged her to find a way to continue helping the community, which was still struggling from its years of Communist rule. After returning home to the United States, Erin and her mother, Stephanie, created the nonprofit, Porolissum Prietenie, which focused on collecting monetary donations and shipments of clothing and supplies for the local community in Moigrad. Soon, Porolissum Prietenie was being contacted by other communities and families in the Transylvania area who needed assistance. In 2016 Porolissum Prietenie organized its first build project , and partnered with Caminul Felix orphanage in Oradea, Romania. After this successful endeavor, Caminul Felix’s sister community in Thailand, requested a team to come and assist them in building a bakery and basketball court. At this juncture, with the non-profit expanding internationally, we changed the name from Porolissum Prietenie to Building Humanity. In 2018 Building Humanity completed its second build project at Felix Family Village in Thailand, finishing the community’s basketball court and erecting the structure of the bakery, that has been completed and is now operational. With Erin’s training as an architect, she has utilized her education and experience to help communities who cannot afford, or do not have access to these services. Through Erin’s extensive worldwide travels, she has made many contacts, and brings together communities in need with companies and professionals who want to provide pro bono professional services. Calls have come in from every corner of the world: Romania, Thailand, Peru, Ghana, Madagascar, Tanzania, USA, and more. Building Humanity is working with communities around the globe on a variety of construction projects including housing, bakeries, basketball courts, dormitories, community health care facilities, bio toilet facilities, etc. We currently have projects scheduled for 2019 in Peru, 2020 in Tanzania and Ghana, and 2021 in Madagascar and Indian Canyon, California. 

Accomplishments
1. Thailand Build. We successfully funded and brought a talented team of volunteers to Surat Thani, Thailand to complete the construction on a bakery for the Felix Family Village. This bakery will provide the first step for the Felix Family Village to becoming self sufficient and not have to rely completely on donations to care for the 70 orphaned children in their care.2. Blueprint Travel Grant. We were successful in receiving a $20,000 grant from AECOM to complete the bakery at the Felix Family Village in 2018.3. Eco toilet facility with Mithun. We partnered with Mithun architects to hold an internal competition for employees to design an eco toilet facility for the Atsiekpoe Community Health Center in Ghana. We had a great turnout with 5 submissions and have chosen a winner. We are now working with the team in Ghana to implement the project. We are also interested in trying to utilize this design for the program at Indian Canyon, California.Goals 20191. Peru Build 2019. We are counting down the months for our Peru Build 2019 and are currently accepting volunteers. We are diligently fundraising and hoping to receive several grants to help complete the funding requirements for the project. We are expecting a great turnout and successful build event.
2. Grant Writing. We are beginning to put together materials to be more successful in applying for grant funding. We need to prepare a template that can be modified and adjusted for the various projects and hope to have this completed by the end of the year.
3. Tanzania Build 2020. We are beginning to plan for the 2020 build and hope to have the full program, costs and funding kicked off by the end of the year.
4. Ghana Build 2020. We are beginning to plan for the 2020 build and hope to have the full program, costs and funding kicked off by the end of the year.
5. School Program with Cal Poly Pomona University. We have had interest from the architectural department to open up a program where we can invite architecture students to attend build events for IDP credit. We are looking into how we can open up this partnership and what kinds of projects would be successful for both BH and the students.

Funding for Romania 2020 build. We have been fundraising with all of the build team participants, but are still looking for an additional $20,000 to reach our goal. We also need volunteers for the Romania 2020 build who have specific skills that include: solar water heater engineer, plumbers, electricians, grey water system specialists, or any other general contractor/construction skills. Please see our website for more information www.buildinghumanity.org/Romania2020. To help our fundraising efforts we need to begin putting together a base grant proposal that can be modified and finalized based on the project. We need volunteers with grant writing experience who can help to write and edit our template.We are always in need of photographers/videographers/journalists willing to travel with our build teams to capture the events in photos/video/articles. These are useful in documenting our trips, showcasing what volunteers can expect when they attend an event, and are great marketing resources for us.

We are a global service organization. We assist communities and organizations who have a need no matter where they are located. We have projects that cross the globe and are looking for more within the US to bring more focus back home. Currently we are working on or collaborating on project in: 
Indian Canyon, California, USA
Oradia, Romania
Calca & Ollantaytambo, Peru
Tabora, Tanzania
Atsiekpoe Battor, Ghana
Antananarivo, Madagascar
Surat Thani, Thailand
Greensboro, North Carolina, USA