Hug the World

School is wrapping up for the year, but our team is hard at work. We are so excited to prep for next year's classrooms! Check out our website to get ahead on scheduling for next fall.

One earth, one people 🌏❤🍃 What kind of citizen are you? Get educated and find out!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-36139904

We are so grateful to have the support of St. Mary's!

We had a terrific time at Pho Van Fresh yesterday, where Hug the World hosted a packed-house friendraiser that was full of information about what this young organization is doing to raise cultural awareness and appreciation in Portland-area schools. Founder and executive director, Sam Safirstein was joined by directors Ha-Lan Van, Ella Behnke, Molly Murphy, and Kenley Borgerson. These SMA juniors are changing the world by connecting the world's schoolchildren.

Seeing kids from Portland talk to their peers in Thailand brought smiles to everyone in attendance, and we were wowed by performances in Russian, Filipino, Spanish, French, Japanese and Thai by more awesome SMA students: Svetlana Ustenko, Kristen Luna, Sam Leahy, Alex Hussey, Elise Barnes and Phoebe Woonprasert, respectively.

In all, it was a wonderful job by everyone involved (and the food was amazing!) and a fitting way to introduce the tremendous work of Hug the World to a new audience.

Nearly half of all hate crimes committed in America have to do with race. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 47% of hate crimes are racially motivated. Following that, religion and sexual orientation account for 19% of hate crimes, respectively.

At Hug the World, we believe that it is absolutely necessary to educate students so that they have the tools to fight discrimination.