The first round of the Bright New Ideas update has been completed by our sponsor engineering team, headed by Bright New Ideas Founder Patrick Delaney.  The first round prototype, which is a customized LED-based solar lamp, is under manufacturing process and is expected to be completed by mid-August.

 Bright New Ideas has been covered in the Stillwater Gazette!

Stillwater Gazette 11 July 2009

Bright New Ideas has received a grant from a local Catholic Church, known as St. Edwards, to support the Bright New Ideas lamp program.  This grant will provide the support programming for 200 solar lamp units in Jinotega, Nicaragua through the end of 2008.  We are very excited to give this update as it has allowed us to reach our fund raising goal through July, 2008.

Patrick Delaney, founder of Bright New Ideas has been awarded the University of Minnesota I.T. Alumni Society’s Paul A. Cartwright Award for student service and academic achievements.  Listing of this award, including past recipients can be found here.

Bright New Ideas is now a finalist in the TIC Americas Young Entrepreneurs Competition. We are in the top 29 out of 854 candidates.  You can review the results here. We will be competing in Medellin, Colombia on May 29-30th.

After digesting a lot of information about the project in Nicaragua, Bright New Ideas would like to announce a new fund raising target for July 15th, 2008. The amount of $5000 will cover materials cost as well as some research costs to bring light to over 100 communities in the Jinotega region of Nicaragua through year-end 2008. There are many families waiting for the chance to have access to light, and so your donation will make a big difference in launching off this commercially-sustainable goodwill project. Donations are tax-deductible as we are a 501(c)3 non-profit. Donate by clicking the donate button and sending money via Paypal today!

Hey all!  I know that we’ve been posting a lot of sites about Nicaragua lately.  We’re still decompressing after Patrick’s recent trip through the country.  We’ll soon have lots more interesting information to post!

I found this political-based website on Nicaragua.  It might be interesting for you to check out if you’re interested in the country.

I came across this article in the Idaho Statesman that blew apart my conception of what charity work is.  The goal of the organization, Happy Trails, is to teach motorcycle lessons and maintenance in Nicaragua.  The organization emphasizes the 19 day, 5,000 mile journey down to Nicaragua as apart of bonding with the land and culture.

The money quote is this:  “It makes a different person out of you. I used to be a redneck. Now I’m a bleeding-heart redneck.”

Click here to check out their website (not much of a mention of their charity work, but good if you’re looking for bike parts)!

I’ve been really enjoying the Nicaragua Living website I posted earlier.  Some posts are just of a picture or something, but this one is a really great video of scenes in Nicaragua.

I’m not sure if any of you remember the story of Eric Volz, the man who was imprisoned in Nicaragua for murder, a crime which he didn’t commit.  If you’re curious what he’s doing today, you should visit his blog.  Since his release, he’s decided to turn this website into a awareness-raising tool for those who have been falsely imprisoned in other countries.  Now he’s talking about a woman named Brenda Martin, who is a Canadian woman who has been imprisoned in a Mexican prison for two years without due legal process.

Here’s a news story, with video, on his efforts.

Also, here is a link to his website.