Who We Are

Welcome and thank you for thinking of Holistica Foundation as the receipient of your charitable giving.

I understand that choosing amongst the myriad of nonprofits and social projects out there is not an easy task, so, even if you decide not to donate at this time, thank you for having us as a viable choice.

Daniel Herkenhoff
Founder

Why Holistica Foundation and its focus on education?

The short story: education is in our blood and soul.

 

And, a long story short:

Everything started many decades ago, by the end of the 19th century, in November 15, 1886, when Mathias Heinrich Herkenhoff, my great great grandfather, left Germany at 26 years old and ended up in the south region of Brazil.

The Herkenhoff family in Germany were catholics and farmers. Mathias and one of his cousins left Germany seeking a better life. They were young and full of dreams.

In Joinville, Santa Catarina State, he had an itinerary library – among other activities.

Mathias got married and one of his children was Alfredo Herkenhoff, my great grandfather. He was raised by German parents in Brazil, so music, extensive reading and world culture were an everyday thing for him as he grew up.

Alfredo married Aurora Estellita Lins and moved from Joinville to the southeast – Rio de Janeiro in 1924 – and a few years later, in 1927, moved again to seize an opportunity to have a better life, that time to a thriving small town named Cachoeiro do Itapemirim – hometown of the famous Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos.

Cachoeiro do Itapemirim by that time was growing fast – it was the second city in Brazil to have public lighting – so Alfredo had the idea of starting a tech school to supply the market with qualified personnel: Escola de Comercio Alfredo Herkenhoff – Alfredo Herkenhoff’s Commercial School (free translation).

The “School“, as it became known, grew fast and was responsible for the professional formation of many people, for decades.

Alfredo and Aurora had 10 children. Lucilia was the oldest and she was my grandmother. The whole Herkenhoff family lived inside the School grounds.

My grandmother married Jader Coelho – obviously my grandfather – and the couple also lived for a while inside School grounds.

The big and ever growing Herkenhoff family kept growing and growing and Lucilia gave birth to my father Mario – the birth itself happened at the School’s patio!

My father was raised amongst books, literary works of all places, professors, teachers, music – my grandfather Alfredo was a musician (he played the violin and before starting with the School he also founded a Music School in Cachoeiro).

My father’s house was the School after all, so learning and teaching were his everyday life.

As a young adult, Mario went to Vitoria (Espirito Santo State’s Capital), to start College. He graduated in business management and his class was the first one in the field of all Espirito Santo State by that time (1970’s).

A few years after graduating Mario and Solange – my mother – came to the US so my father could pursue his MBA (Master’s in Business Administration).

 

That’s when my own story begins.

I was born in Buffalo, NY in the summer of 1974, and stayed in the US until around 3 years old. After that my parents went back to Brazil where I was raised – I spent sometime abroad studying (Paris, France) – but that’s another story for some other time.

My father was an University professor and businessman so you can imagine that schooling was a very important aspect of my life.

I was a good student, loved to read and I made many good friends at school. Going to the University was almost an automatic life choice for me, so I went to the same College my father graduated from and where he used to teach (not anymore – he retired a few years ago).

As you can see, dear reader, education, books and reading run in our veins, fill our souls. I wonder if Mathias won’t have had that Itinerary Library, if the Herkenhoff Clan would be so closely connected to education as we all are…

 

The public education situation in Brazil and what we decided to do about it

My father’s company, Herkenhoff & Prates (my first job at the age of 13), specialized in building, applying and analyzing standardized tests using top-notch technology.

As you can imagine, we know the numbers and the Brazilian Public School system from inside out and the reality is tough. You can learn more about it here.

But, just to summarize it, Brazilians are 260 years behind in reading compared to OECD countries.

As my great grandfather, my grandfather and my father before me, I also was a College Professor.

Education runs in our family veins. We think a good education is key to a better life for everyone.

That’s why I decided to aim my volunteer efforts at giving this chance to as many poor students as I could.

My father, one of his 9 siblings, a friend of ours and I managed to create a plan to solve the Brazilian educational gap using our expertise in education, project monitoring & evaluation, digital technology and Brazilian culture in general.

The idea was to have something so fundamentally simple that could be replicated in a ripple effect to allow for real life transformations.

That’s what we have been doing at Holistica Foundation. We develop and deploy social educational projects that sow seeds of literacy all over Brazil.

 

We have a system that is helping many once non-readers to become passionate readers.

When you decide to give us a gift you are enabling us to bring the passion for reading to as many students as we can.

 

Thank you for your kind support.

Daniel Herkenhoff

Daniel Herkenhoff

Founder

Avid reader, plays the guitar and sings – specially for his kids and spouse -, businessman, self-tought programmer (iOS, databases, web and more), self-taugth economist, graduated Business Management, MBA and Marketing specialist.

The much missed Alfredo Herkenhoff at 8 years old.

(free translation) Photo: Prof Alfredo Herkenhoff, founder of one of the most important educational institutions in Espirito Santo.  In the city of Cachoeiro do Itapemirim, south of Espírito Santo State, a magnificent educational institution is built by an idealist and tenacious man who thought that, one day, he would make it possible for the poor man to have a good education.  One of the most important aspects of this gigantic work is that it has never got any government funding. It was created and maintained thanks only to the civility of a man which a terrible disease took from him almost all of his muscular movements, but that never discourage himself and kept fighting and working until his death in June 8, 1953.  In 1926 has arrived in Cachoeiro do Itapemirim Professor Alfredo Herkenhoff, coming from Joinville after spending almost 3 years in Rio de Janeiro, seeking for...

Move your mouse over the photo, or tap on it once, to read a free translation.

(free translation) Photo: Prof Alfredo Herkenhoff, founder of one of the most important educational institutions in Espirito Santo.  In the city of Cachoeiro do Itapemirim, south of Espírito Santo State, a magnificent educational institution is built by an idealist and tenacious man who thought that, one day, he would make it possible for the poor man to have a good education.  One of the most important aspects of this gigantic work is that it has never got any government funding. It was created and maintained thanks only to the civility of a man which a terrible disease took from him almost all of his muscular movements, but that never discourage himself and kept fighting and working until his death in June 8, 1953.  In 1926 has arrived in Cachoeiro do Itapemirim Professor Alfredo Herkenhoff, coming from Joinville after spending almost 3 years in Rio de Janeiro, seeking for...

A classroom at the “School”.

ABOUT US

Holistica Foundation Inc is a nonprofit organization aiming at alleviating social and economic differences by helping the current poor generation of students to become wealthier compared to their parents. The way we do it is by stimulating the healthy habit of everyday reading. We believe that when one loves to read, one’s perspectives in life become more clear and thus, attainable.

You can see our external profiles at independent organizations such as GlobalGiving.org and GuideStar.org.

OUR VALUES

We believe in education.
It is key for empowerment and change.

With your donation we will purchase literature books to students who have never been given books before. This is a unique opportunity to help them to fall in love with reading.

We believe in the power of the digital network to promote world change.

Good actions go viral! Make your gift count even more by joining us in a digital chain of goodness! Share stories, share love!

We believe in professionalism.

Get constant and consistent feedback via downloadable reports, pictures, videos, audio and more.

WHAT WE DO

We work hard to transform the lives of students in the most impoverished areas in Brazil. Our goal is to incite their curiosity and stress the importance of literacy in their lives in hopes that one day each student will have the opportunity to tell their own amazing story.

By gifting students new and incredibly engaging literature books, we are sure that we can begin a reading revolution!

Holistica Foundations supports 1BOOK4LIFE Program, which is responsible for operations in Brazil. Through the Program, we are able to:

 

  • Gift books to ALL students of the selected school on the same day.
  • Each student is gifted a set of TWO brand new literacy books.
  • The books are a gift to the student, which means that they belong to him/her.
  • We offer a great variety of books which means that in a classroom all books gifted are different.
  • We encourage students to exchange books among themselves.
  • Monitoring and evaluation is very important to us.
  • All books are BRAND NEW and were specially selected to help students to fall in love with reading.
  • The book catalogue is provided by one of Brazilians largest publishing company.

WHY WE DO IT

In Brazil only 1 in every 4 people is fully literate. Millions of students do not like to read, spending most of their lives without having, not even once, a good and involving literature book in their hands. Thriving in life is harder for one who does not like to read.

We believe literacy can literally change lives. Understand Brazil’s educational crisis and how reading can help students to seek a better future.

Reading Leads To A Smarter & Brighter Future!

 

“Reading is fundamental”and “Knowledge is power”, both are hopefully old adages that you have heard countless times before. They continue to resonate to this day because of the power and evidence of their truth. When someone is incapable of reading, they are undoubtedly alienated from the world around them.

Books convey new ideas and emotions but maybe even most importantly, expose the readers to new worlds.

Reading can be the basis for the blossoming of new friendships and reading opens up the reader to new vocabulary that will help advance their ability to clearly communicate their thoughts.

We believe providing these tools and materials to the classrooms of Brazil will aid in creating a future where our students are not only well read, but both inquisitive and impactful.

We have been so fortunate to see the positive effects of reading within various classrooms as teachers have reported their students’ strengthened reading comprehension skills and most importantly, a newly found confidence.

It is because of your donation that we are able to continue to make any impact of our own.

Your donations help us to supply classrooms with brand new literature books, full of new stories and adventures that will inspire and educate.

Your funding helps us to provide students in impoverished areas of Brazil with an opportunity to succeed and a chance at true success.

 

Students need books!

We can't do this work without you. Please make a gift today so we can continue to bring joy and hope for a better future to students in Brazil.

Take action! Donate today. Give the Gift of Literacy.

Get in Touch. Get Involved.

We are happy to hear your feedback, suggestions and more. Consider becoming a sower of literacy and help us get more seeds of love for reading bearing wonderful fruits.

244 Fifth Avenue Suite H231, New York, NY 10001

Call Us: (347) 817-2233