Hollis Brookline Robotics Boosters (HBRB) is a non-profit 501c3 organization formed in 2018 and based in Hollis, NH. HBRB was established by parents and mentors from the high school level robotics team to help FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and other student robotics programs in the Hollis Brookline community. We are proud of the fact that there are now after school robotics programs in every school in both towns, from elementary through high school, both public and private. These programs teach valuable career skills and give students hands-on experience in physics and math, mechanical, electrical, and software engineering, as well as business, program management, graphic arts, and many other areas. However, even with countless volunteer hours, it takes a lot of money, as well as community and school support, to keep the programs moving forward. Our goal is to facilitate these programs both financially and within the community.
The need for a non-profit booster organization grew out of three factors. First, the finances for the existing robotics teams within the school district were managed by the school district and this put a significant burden on school district personnel while slowing all of the financial processes for the volunteers who were actually running the teams. Second, the school district has a policy against online fundraising and this created a significant barrier to fundraising for the various robotics teams. Third, due to difficulties in working within the school system and difficulties in finding and keeping volunteers, the robotics programs were struggling in several schools.