March and April have both been months that have been extremely fruitful for our community thanks to the help of Rotarians from the United States. We had two groups of hard workers from Utah that brought many young people along with Rotarians to Puerto Peñasco for many days of service. This is the way these young people, guided by the Rotarians spent their spring break. The Heber Valley Rotary including 32 teenagers built a fence at the dialysis center, planted trees and put in an irrigation system at the middle school number 21, painted resident rooms at Casa Hogar and built benches for George and Susie’s medical clinic. A second group of Rotarians from Utah simply brought their families and also helped with the painting at Casa Hogar. It was a true thrill to watch and work side-by-side with the young people and to think this is the way they spent their spring break… Kudos!
This past month we were also treated by our four exchange students to a gourmet meal consisting of special dishes from their individual countries. This was a fundraiser for our students and their goal was to buy a shelter box. A shelter box is something that costs $1000 USD and contains everything needed for a family of four to survive for a month. It even includes a tent! Our four exchange students this year are from Belgium, Denmark and Germany. (I must tell you the Belgian waffles were my favorite but each of their specialties were delicious.) The students were able to raise almost half of the cost of the shelter box so they’re well on their way.
You know I’ve been keeping you updated on the dialysis center. It seems we’re about three weeks out from the opening. This has truly been a labor of love with so many different entities working together to make this happen. It will be very exciting to see the fruits of our labor and more than that to have this facility available to our citizens.
Another project that we worked on this last month was working with the prisoners to make shoe coverings for the local hospital. These boots are used to cover the shoes of patients. We furnished the materials, and the prisoners made the boots. We were able to present hundreds of pairs to the hospital.
On April 10th, we held our annual youth leadership day at CEDO. We welcomed 71 high school students and led them through a process of what it means to serve and lead. It is so important to mentor these young people, after all they will be the leaders of tomorrow.
Just as a reminder, our Rotary meets every week at 9:00 AM and any interested reader that wants to be a part of Rotary or learn more about our mission please join us. We meet at Puesta del Sol restaurant at Playa Bonita Hotel. If you just want to have a conversation or ask questions about Rotary, don’t hesitate to give me a call – my information is at the bottom of this article. In the meantime, think about what you can do to serve… Service above self is a wonderful way to live!
