Giving Back: Around The World
Helping Deaf Students Around the World through Project: Inclusive Impact
ICS donates 5% of its annual proceeds to Project: Inclusive Impact, an internal initative aimed at expanding inclusion for Deaf and hard-of-hearing children in education around the globe.
When you book your accommodation services through ICS, you’re helping to expand inclusion in your local community and abroad!
Today’s universally conscious market understands the importance of ensuring every dollar spent contributes to positive social change. The truth is, where you spend your money matters!
That’s why in 2018 we launched Project: Inclusive Impact, an internal initiative focused on helping Deaf and hard-of-hearing children in developing nations attend school and develop a career or trade.
Now, when you book your accommodation services through ICS, you’re helping to expand inclusion in your local community and abroad! ICS donates 5% of its annual profits to Project: Inclusive Impact, an internal initative aimed at expanding inclusion for Deaf and hard-of-hearing children in education around the globe.
Every year, ICS partners with a underfunded school for the Deaf to learn a little about their students’ lives and needs. ICS coordinators spend the year getting to know students, exchanging culture, sign, and comradery along the way. At the end of the year with our new friends, ICS donates 5% of its annual proceeds to the school for the students’ educational supplies, living accommodations, and assistive hearing devices.
Our small way of giving back to a community where inclusion still has not unfolded—yet.
Be proud and share the word! Booking your services with ICS not only promotes inclusion in your local community but also empowers young minds, miles away, to envision and create similar futures for their community.
Project: Inclusive Impact Recipients
Project Inclusive Impact 2021
For 2021, ICS is proud to announce its continued support for Humble Hearts School for the Deaf in Nairobi, Kenya.
A little information about the school:
“Humble Hearts School for the Deaf serves Deaf and other disadvantaged children who are suffering due to poverty, loss of their parents, or a combination of these burdens. Some Kenyans still believe that deafness is a curse, breaking families apart through bitterness and misunderstanding. Many parents in the slums of Nairobi scrape together a meager existence, and the added difficulties of raising special needs children and their siblings is nearly impossible. Humble Hearts provides an opportunity for orphaned or impoverished students to receive special education.”
“The children range in ages from 3 to 18-years-old. They are taught the same basic concepts other Kenyan schools teach, including English and Swahili, but learn it all through Kenyan Sign Language. Often a Deaf child’s sibling will also attend the school, so that they too can learn sign language to help translate for them back home… The school is not only changing the lives of hundreds of children, but it is also changing attitudes in the community toward Deaf people.”
Humble Hearts was founded in 2003 by Beatrice Anunda, a kindred soul who sought out Deaf children in her local community and overturned parents’ false preconceptions of their child’s autonomy and education. Inspired by Humble Heart’s mission to include all students despite their abilities or adversities, ICS commits to donate 5% of its annual profits to support the school’s need for textbooks, classroom supplies, uniforms, furniture, and tuition fees. It is our hope that Humble Hearts will use these resources to further their students’ education and prepare them to be included as future integral members in their community.
To learn more about Humble Hearts, check out their Facebook page!
The world awaits each of us; let’s ensure we’re all included
Project Inclusive Impact 2020
For 2021, ICS is proud to announce its continued support for Humble Hearts School for the Deaf in Nairobi, Kenya.
A little information about the school:
“Humble Hearts School for the Deaf serves Deaf and other disadvantaged children who are suffering due to poverty, loss of their parents, or a combination of these burdens. Some Kenyans still believe that deafness is a curse, breaking families apart through bitterness and misunderstanding. Many parents in the slums of Nairobi scrape together a meager existence, and the added difficulties of raising special needs children and their siblings is nearly impossible. Humble Hearts provides an opportunity for orphaned or impoverished students to receive special education.”
“The children range in ages from 3 to 18-years-old. They are taught the same basic concepts other Kenyan schools teach, including English and Swahili, but learn it all through Kenyan Sign Language. Often a Deaf child’s sibling will also attend the school, so that they too can learn sign language to help translate for them back home… The school is not only changing the lives of hundreds of children, but it is also changing attitudes in the community toward Deaf people.”
Humble Hearts was founded in 2003 by Beatrice Anunda, a kindred soul who sought out Deaf children in her local community and overturned parents’ false preconceptions of their child’s autonomy and education. Inspired by Humble Heart’s mission to include all students despite their abilities or adversities, ICS commits to donate 5% of its annual profits to support the school’s need for textbooks, classroom supplies, uniforms, furniture, and tuition fees. It is our hope that Humble Hearts will use these resources to further their students’ education and prepare them to be included as future integral members in their community.
To learn more about Humble Hearts, check out their Facebook page!
The world awaits each of us; let’s ensure we’re all included
Project Inclusive Impact 2019
For 2019, ICS has elected to partner with Institut Montfort pour enfants sourds in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This is the most attended school for the Deaf in Haiti and has urgent financial needs to support their students’ education and housing:
“Institut Montfort School for Deaf and Deaf-Blind Children was founded in one of the poorest sections in Port-au-Prince, Haití in 1957… [and] now boasts more than 650 students. Most reside in the school dormitories because they live too far to travel every day, or they come from families with minimal or no resources… In addition to providing basic education, Institut Montfort has introduced an admirable program in sports and fine arts which include dancing, sculpture, painting, crafts, and drawing. Vocational classes are also held in cabinet making, tinware, tailoring, home economics, bookbinding, basket making, and cosmetology… The Institute is in full reconstruction since the earthquake of 2010. A great deal has been accomplished thanks to the generosity of the international community and organizations- yet there is so much more to be done!”
For the school’s ambitious work in addressing all facets of a child’s development through to their vocational careers, ICS proudly supports Institut Montfort and specifically their upcoming construction of two dormitories to house more students. Sharing ICS’s adamancy for every individual’s right to inclusion, Institut Montfort pour enfants sourds serves as a beacon of light and opportunity for Deaf and hard-of-hearing Haitian children. We have no doubt that with increased financial and public support, this school will be even better equipped to support their students’ development. To learn more about Institut Montfort, check out their facebook page:
Check out their Facebook Page!
The world awaits each of us; let’s ensure we’re all included!
Naïka tells you ‘hello‘ – Croix-des-Bouquets, 2017
Kindergarten students – Croix-des-Bouquets, June 2018
Project Inclusive Impact 2018
For 2018, ICS has chosen to partner with LAVOSI (Centro Educativo para sordos / Las Voces de Silencio) in Sacatepéquez, Guatemala. This school for the Deaf is completely run on donations and supports the preservation of sign language and the advancement of Deaf individuals in the community. Best described in their own words,
“At LAVOSI, the school environment is much different from their home. There are many hands moving around, laughter unheard, but seen afar. Younger to older, signing and playing together like nowhere else can tell them to not sign. The vibes feel free around the school with no boundaries. At LAVOSI, they strive to be themselves, learn about being Deaf and the culture forming around them. Signing, stomping the floor or flashing the lights, laughing aloud, exchanging information about job opportunities, and get together after school are all parts of their Deaf culture.”
To read more about LAVOSI or to make a donation, you can visit their LAVOSI Website.
For more information about LAVOSI, watch Joel Barish, a renown Deaf traveler, visit the school in 2012:
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