To donate to
Wendy's Hurricane Dean Memorial Relief Fund
paypal
mselainehunter@yahoo.ca
also send an e mail to
mselainehunter@yahoo.ca so that we can check the arrival of funds.
checks mailed to
elaine hunter
7969 Wildwood rd
halfmoon bay
BC
v0n 1y1
Thank you, the donations will be sent to Bacalar as one total with a list of the names of people that donated.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Donations are finally getting through
Mallina and I picked up 5 boxes addressed to you at the post office. We had to pay about 300 pesos duty total, but 2 were from Esme, and I’m not sure about the others….How wonderful that some stuff is getting through.
Ccing to Elaine.
Holding the fort in Bacalar, Polly
Wendy, we miss you.
Ccing to Elaine.
Holding the fort in Bacalar, Polly
Wendy, we miss you.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Wendy
Wendy passed away suddenly last night.
Wendy, we will all miss you. Your selfless dedication to helping others will never be forgotten, you are a roll model for us all, sleep well, sweet dreams my friend.
Thank you for being a part of my life.
Elaine Hunter
Wendy, we will all miss you. Your selfless dedication to helping others will never be forgotten, you are a roll model for us all, sleep well, sweet dreams my friend.
Thank you for being a part of my life.
Elaine Hunter
Monday, September 17, 2007
news from Bacalar
Pictures from Bacalar, Sept 17th 2007
I thought you'd appreciate reading this - this was part of our outreach program to a small nearby village. The kind hearted lady who wrote this email came to Bacalar and told us these folks were getting very little support so we helped them out from our pockets and some of the donated funds. We are sending another shipment of food and clothing with her in a few days.
Hugs,
Wendy
Here's a nice email from Debb from Rio Indio....
Hi Everyone,
First of all, let me express my sincere gratitude to those of you who have contributed to our efforts here in Mexico!! The ladies of Bacalar -- thank you so very much for your contribution, it certainly was a boost to help get things geared up!!
We went to Chetumal on Wednesday to load up with groceries, sorted and distributed them yesterday in Limones!! We touched the hearts and lives of 18 very needy families yesterday, and all I can say is, you should have been here!! The appreciation was overwhelming, the tears, the smiles, and an emotional and cultural experience unlike anything we have ever enjoyed!! I had to share with you some of the lovely people we were able to meet yesterday. You KNOW I had my camera!!!
Our package included rice, beans, maseca (for making tortillas), sugar, salt, coffee, water, cooking oil, oatmeal, instant soup, tuna, sardines, drink mix, toilet paper, and disposable diapers for those with babies. All in all, we think we covered most of the basics, would like to have done more, but were happy to be able to help at all.
Our Mexican friends here in Limones who have opened up their home to us in our time of need were kind enough to help us find those in need and go with us to deliver the packages. Hugh and I still have a problem with the language, so this was very appreciated. Even though there may have been a language communication barrier yesterday, there was no problem communicating the fact that we were there to help, to give them hope, a little ray of sunshine!!
Our efforts will continue, reaching out to other small surrounding towns. Again, thank you for your contributions, and God Bless You!!
Luv as always,
Deb and Hugh
Another letter from Bacalar
Hi,
3 of us who are doing hurricane relief work here in Bacalar went out to do some home visit follow-ups today. This is a challenge linguistically for me - some of these people have never spoken Spanglish before :~) - I was the most fluent of us 3. These visits took us half a day due to wide spread location, bad roads and some wrong turns...
We started with Dona Felicia - an elderly woman who broke her hip in July and is recovering at her daughter's house. She's a delightful lady who is about as skinny as one can be - no fat at all. I call her Sra. Flaquita which cracks her up (Skinny Lady). The last time I visited her a few weeks ago was with Pedro, my trusted worker, who introduced me to her as one of those elderly needing help with meds and so on. That day she was laying on a mattress with no sheet under her, unable to move her leg at all and was covered with a light cloth of some kind. We left a little money for her medications and Depends for her (she can't make it to the bathroom yet), gave them some sheets for her bed and also some dispensas (rice, beans, milk etc) for her care-giving family who were obviously in need.
Today when we visited her she was looking much better and is able to move her leg!! Her daughter is massaging it (the therapist showed her how) and Dona F. is able to sit up 2 times a day (Dr. said no more than that) for short periods. She gets taken to her medial appts. via ambulance which was a relief to hear. She also is on a high fiber calcium diet and Vitamin. supplements. Today we left her daughter enough money to buy her vitamins, medicines and special food items like Cereals and oatmeal (Dona Felicia has no teeth), Depends etc. She needed a blanket for the nights now that it is cooling down so that will be delivered to her later today. One of us thinks she's about 60-65, I'm thinking 70-75.She's a wonderful lady who I am entranced with!! Happy and sharp minded and a pleasure to visit.
Our next visit was to a family of 6 (youngest one is in diapers) - the father was injured during the hurricane prep. and is a diabetic. The nail hole in his foot turned into a major infection because they couldn't get medical help fast enough and he required surgery. He was in the hospital the last time I visited the family and at that time gave the mother some money to buy her husbands medicines while he was in post surgery and bus fare to get to the city and back. We also arranged to help them get govt. supplied lamina for the roof of their house which was non-existent. They had govt. dispensas (food staples) so didn't require food.
Today, the father was home from the hospital after a 15 day stay post surgery. I noticed right away the new lamina roof was in place (Pedro and other neighbors put up the roof) but they still have no walls to speak of. They are using plastic sheets to keep the rain out.
The father struck me as a generally strong man who is very capable of caring for his family under normal circumstances. After talking with him, we decided to provide his post surgery meds - one of which cost 500p ($50.00) and can only be purchased in the city where the hosptial is located. I don't understand why the hospital doesn't send these expensive medications home with people who have no money!! Anyway, we bought some of the antibiotics here in Bacalar and a few other things we could get here and left $1000p with his wife who was going right away to the city to buy the ones we couldn't get here.. We also purchased a couple of cooked roasted chickens to take to them when we returned. All 3 of us visitors heard the mother gasp when we handed them to her. It was a happy/sad moment for me - I take for granted those pollos asados whenever I want one :~). They had been eating only beans and rice for weeks I'm sure. We left more of the staples along with milk for the baby.
Thanks to all the donations we've received, this family will be a fully functioning one again soon.
We also bought and delivered a chicken for Don Chebelo, an 85 year old man who lives alone in a small destroyed house - we have been trying to take him meals a few times a week since he came to our attention. He refuses to leave according to the Alcalde (Mayor) and has returned to his house more than once after being taken to an assisted care facility. He is quite hard for me to converse with due to my lack of language skills and his hard of hearing problems! His roof is not fixed and is tarp-ed only in the area above his hammock where he sleeps. He complained also that his water faucet broke and I couldn't even find where it was supposed to be outside. I did not want him walking as he had just cleaned his feet and was applying medication to them when we arrived (our first visit Dr. Jacqui spent quite a bit of time cleaning his feet and working on them - we also took him dry shoes that visit). His floor was clean and he had buckets of water so somewhere, he's getting water! I left him with the promise to talk to the Alcalde once again to see if they can help him.
Our next visit was to Sra. Candelaria whom Dr. Jacqui recommended we follow up on. She was on the "12 worst hurt by the hurricane list" that the Alcalde's office provided. The last time some of us visited her, she was taken to the Alcaldia to get some of the govt. issued lamina for her roof. I thought I understood that the mayor was going to get her some help to rebuild her no longer existing house, but I may be wrong. She is still in dire straits as far as housing goes. The tarp we provided is still on the roof, the 2 packages of lamina she received aren't nearly enough to do anything with - she has no house basically. I believe she needs someone to advocate for her with whatever agencies are out there to help those in most desperate situations. I am going to bring her to the attention of the Alcalde once again to see what's supposed to be done in these sorts of situations. Obviously we can't build her a complete house out of the funds we have. We did give her food and a little money and a promise to see what we can find out.
Her neighbors with children were also given food dispensas - there are so many still not quite getting enough I feel. We were handing out bags of food during our searching for specific families...
We then went looking for the family of 5 children who were living in the temporary shelter of a kinder school after their house fell down. We never were able to locate their neighborhood. I do know they have 2 working parents. I am not as concerned about them as I am some others but I would have liked to touch bases with them again to see if they needed food or medicines. We saw these children for the first time 2 weeks ago and left them food, water and a little money.
We ended up handing off the remaining 4 bags of dispensas to a lady I know in an area of need - she knew exactly who needed them most - a sick child here, a hungry family there...
So folks, once again another half a day of home visits comes to a close. I want to leave you with this wonderful thought. For the first time today in my wanderings around the hard hit areas of Bacalar, I saw more newly repaired roofs than destroyed ones! That makes me smile :)
Wendy
I thought you'd appreciate reading this - this was part of our outreach program to a small nearby village. The kind hearted lady who wrote this email came to Bacalar and told us these folks were getting very little support so we helped them out from our pockets and some of the donated funds. We are sending another shipment of food and clothing with her in a few days.
Hugs,
Wendy
Here's a nice email from Debb from Rio Indio....
Hi Everyone,
First of all, let me express my sincere gratitude to those of you who have contributed to our efforts here in Mexico!! The ladies of Bacalar -- thank you so very much for your contribution, it certainly was a boost to help get things geared up!!
We went to Chetumal on Wednesday to load up with groceries, sorted and distributed them yesterday in Limones!! We touched the hearts and lives of 18 very needy families yesterday, and all I can say is, you should have been here!! The appreciation was overwhelming, the tears, the smiles, and an emotional and cultural experience unlike anything we have ever enjoyed!! I had to share with you some of the lovely people we were able to meet yesterday. You KNOW I had my camera!!!
Our package included rice, beans, maseca (for making tortillas), sugar, salt, coffee, water, cooking oil, oatmeal, instant soup, tuna, sardines, drink mix, toilet paper, and disposable diapers for those with babies. All in all, we think we covered most of the basics, would like to have done more, but were happy to be able to help at all.
Our Mexican friends here in Limones who have opened up their home to us in our time of need were kind enough to help us find those in need and go with us to deliver the packages. Hugh and I still have a problem with the language, so this was very appreciated. Even though there may have been a language communication barrier yesterday, there was no problem communicating the fact that we were there to help, to give them hope, a little ray of sunshine!!
Our efforts will continue, reaching out to other small surrounding towns. Again, thank you for your contributions, and God Bless You!!
Luv as always,
Deb and Hugh
Another letter from Bacalar
Hi,
3 of us who are doing hurricane relief work here in Bacalar went out to do some home visit follow-ups today. This is a challenge linguistically for me - some of these people have never spoken Spanglish before :~) - I was the most fluent of us 3. These visits took us half a day due to wide spread location, bad roads and some wrong turns...
We started with Dona Felicia - an elderly woman who broke her hip in July and is recovering at her daughter's house. She's a delightful lady who is about as skinny as one can be - no fat at all. I call her Sra. Flaquita which cracks her up (Skinny Lady). The last time I visited her a few weeks ago was with Pedro, my trusted worker, who introduced me to her as one of those elderly needing help with meds and so on. That day she was laying on a mattress with no sheet under her, unable to move her leg at all and was covered with a light cloth of some kind. We left a little money for her medications and Depends for her (she can't make it to the bathroom yet), gave them some sheets for her bed and also some dispensas (rice, beans, milk etc) for her care-giving family who were obviously in need.
Today when we visited her she was looking much better and is able to move her leg!! Her daughter is massaging it (the therapist showed her how) and Dona F. is able to sit up 2 times a day (Dr. said no more than that) for short periods. She gets taken to her medial appts. via ambulance which was a relief to hear. She also is on a high fiber calcium diet and Vitamin. supplements. Today we left her daughter enough money to buy her vitamins, medicines and special food items like Cereals and oatmeal (Dona Felicia has no teeth), Depends etc. She needed a blanket for the nights now that it is cooling down so that will be delivered to her later today. One of us thinks she's about 60-65, I'm thinking 70-75.She's a wonderful lady who I am entranced with!! Happy and sharp minded and a pleasure to visit.
Our next visit was to a family of 6 (youngest one is in diapers) - the father was injured during the hurricane prep. and is a diabetic. The nail hole in his foot turned into a major infection because they couldn't get medical help fast enough and he required surgery. He was in the hospital the last time I visited the family and at that time gave the mother some money to buy her husbands medicines while he was in post surgery and bus fare to get to the city and back. We also arranged to help them get govt. supplied lamina for the roof of their house which was non-existent. They had govt. dispensas (food staples) so didn't require food.
Today, the father was home from the hospital after a 15 day stay post surgery. I noticed right away the new lamina roof was in place (Pedro and other neighbors put up the roof) but they still have no walls to speak of. They are using plastic sheets to keep the rain out.
The father struck me as a generally strong man who is very capable of caring for his family under normal circumstances. After talking with him, we decided to provide his post surgery meds - one of which cost 500p ($50.00) and can only be purchased in the city where the hosptial is located. I don't understand why the hospital doesn't send these expensive medications home with people who have no money!! Anyway, we bought some of the antibiotics here in Bacalar and a few other things we could get here and left $1000p with his wife who was going right away to the city to buy the ones we couldn't get here.. We also purchased a couple of cooked roasted chickens to take to them when we returned. All 3 of us visitors heard the mother gasp when we handed them to her. It was a happy/sad moment for me - I take for granted those pollos asados whenever I want one :~). They had been eating only beans and rice for weeks I'm sure. We left more of the staples along with milk for the baby.
Thanks to all the donations we've received, this family will be a fully functioning one again soon.
We also bought and delivered a chicken for Don Chebelo, an 85 year old man who lives alone in a small destroyed house - we have been trying to take him meals a few times a week since he came to our attention. He refuses to leave according to the Alcalde (Mayor) and has returned to his house more than once after being taken to an assisted care facility. He is quite hard for me to converse with due to my lack of language skills and his hard of hearing problems! His roof is not fixed and is tarp-ed only in the area above his hammock where he sleeps. He complained also that his water faucet broke and I couldn't even find where it was supposed to be outside. I did not want him walking as he had just cleaned his feet and was applying medication to them when we arrived (our first visit Dr. Jacqui spent quite a bit of time cleaning his feet and working on them - we also took him dry shoes that visit). His floor was clean and he had buckets of water so somewhere, he's getting water! I left him with the promise to talk to the Alcalde once again to see if they can help him.
Our next visit was to Sra. Candelaria whom Dr. Jacqui recommended we follow up on. She was on the "12 worst hurt by the hurricane list" that the Alcalde's office provided. The last time some of us visited her, she was taken to the Alcaldia to get some of the govt. issued lamina for her roof. I thought I understood that the mayor was going to get her some help to rebuild her no longer existing house, but I may be wrong. She is still in dire straits as far as housing goes. The tarp we provided is still on the roof, the 2 packages of lamina she received aren't nearly enough to do anything with - she has no house basically. I believe she needs someone to advocate for her with whatever agencies are out there to help those in most desperate situations. I am going to bring her to the attention of the Alcalde once again to see what's supposed to be done in these sorts of situations. Obviously we can't build her a complete house out of the funds we have. We did give her food and a little money and a promise to see what we can find out.
Her neighbors with children were also given food dispensas - there are so many still not quite getting enough I feel. We were handing out bags of food during our searching for specific families...
We then went looking for the family of 5 children who were living in the temporary shelter of a kinder school after their house fell down. We never were able to locate their neighborhood. I do know they have 2 working parents. I am not as concerned about them as I am some others but I would have liked to touch bases with them again to see if they needed food or medicines. We saw these children for the first time 2 weeks ago and left them food, water and a little money.
We ended up handing off the remaining 4 bags of dispensas to a lady I know in an area of need - she knew exactly who needed them most - a sick child here, a hungry family there...
So folks, once again another half a day of home visits comes to a close. I want to leave you with this wonderful thought. For the first time today in my wanderings around the hard hit areas of Bacalar, I saw more newly repaired roofs than destroyed ones! That makes me smile :)
Wendy
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Do not mail clothes to Mexico,
Really bad news. After working on trying to get these clothes to Wendy, I spoke to the Mexican Consulate and Mexico will not except used clothing of any sort. After the last earthquake, they accepted used clothing from all around the world and a lot of people got skin diseases, so they will not accept used clothng any more. I asked about new clothing and if it is sent, Wendy could be charged a very high tax on it. I explained that it was for the victims of Hurricane Dean and it doesn't matter. They will only accept used clothing if you take it down yourself. So, it was reccommended that we do not send any clothing at all. I am very this is Sandi's word off and have collected about 210 pounds of clothing and have been phoning everywhere to get this to happen. I want to scream and I want to cry. We will end up sending money, after all of that.
Sorry guys...I really tried.
This was a message form Madison, she has worked hard on this , sorry everyone, it is a no go for maiing used clothing.
Sorry guys...I really tried.
This was a message form Madison, she has worked hard on this , sorry everyone, it is a no go for maiing used clothing.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Clothing, transport and customs in Mexico
Sadly,the baby in the next post has now died and we must try to help other children to live.
We are having difficulty getting clothes into Mexico, used clothing is held up at customs. Can anyone help please, we have lots of donated clothing but no way to get it there yet.
thanks
We are having difficulty getting clothes into Mexico, used clothing is held up at customs. Can anyone help please, we have lots of donated clothing but no way to get it there yet.
thanks
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Bacalar still needs help and another hurricane is getting close
This is a letter form someone who lives in Bacalar and has been helping the people since hurricane dean......
Hi everyone. I am sitting in my car on the side of the road...it's quiet. I am really, really sad at the moment. I hate to be such a downer for you guys lately..sniff sniff..I got a call from my worker Pedro, his brother's baby has been in the hospital since a few days after the storm hit. It got sick shortly before but after the storm they couldn't get out to take it to a doctor. Well to make a long story short, after being in the hospital for 7 days, the baby is dying unless a miracle happens. I just paid for the either the miracle through more medicines or for the funeral and am in tears. I had just bought a car full of watermelons so after I left the baby's father, I drove to every hovel of a house I saw and dropped of watermelons. Gee what a miracle worker - NOT... This is the first time I've cried...I can't stand the babies being vulnerable..it hurts my heart.
So there I am having MY melt down...
PLEASE PLEASE HELP send money to the paypal address on this blog.
we thank you very much.
Hi everyone. I am sitting in my car on the side of the road...it's quiet. I am really, really sad at the moment. I hate to be such a downer for you guys lately..sniff sniff..I got a call from my worker Pedro, his brother's baby has been in the hospital since a few days after the storm hit. It got sick shortly before but after the storm they couldn't get out to take it to a doctor. Well to make a long story short, after being in the hospital for 7 days, the baby is dying unless a miracle happens. I just paid for the either the miracle through more medicines or for the funeral and am in tears. I had just bought a car full of watermelons so after I left the baby's father, I drove to every hovel of a house I saw and dropped of watermelons. Gee what a miracle worker - NOT... This is the first time I've cried...I can't stand the babies being vulnerable..it hurts my heart.
So there I am having MY melt down...
PLEASE PLEASE HELP send money to the paypal address on this blog.
we thank you very much.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Truck to Bacalar. U haul, can you help?
We are looking for a truck to be donated and driven to Bacalar full of clothes for the people who lost a lot in Hurricane Dean.
It is the poorer people that have been hit with their not so well built homes that are now flattened.
Please , if you know anyone who can help to send clothing from the Vancouver or Toronto area contact me.....
mselainehunter@yahoo.ca
thanks
It is the poorer people that have been hit with their not so well built homes that are now flattened.
Please , if you know anyone who can help to send clothing from the Vancouver or Toronto area contact me.....
mselainehunter@yahoo.ca
thanks
New pictures from Bacalar Mexico and hurricane Dean
MORE INFORMATION
http://www.bacalarmosaico.com/dean/dean_donations.html
NEW PAY PAL E MAIL ACCOUNT IN BACALAR Money and Checks to Bacalar
If you have not got a paypal account you can send a check to:-
Peggy Londahl
Hurricane Relief Fund Bacalar
175 White Road
Warwick, MA 01378
FOR BACALAR
NEW
paypal account payments sent to
plondahl@gmail.com
Thanks for all your donations and you can still email me for any further information that you may require...thanks
mselainehunter@yahoo.ca
http://www.bacalarmosaico.com
This link has new pictures from Bacalar Aug 27th 2007
http://www.bacalarmosaico.com/index.htm
Elaine
Sunday, August 26, 2007
pay pal donations .this is for the area but not specifically Bacalar
helpthechicas@lunabluehotel.com.
A quick update. As of 10 o'clock Playa time this evening there have been contributions of $7248.01 through Paypal in amounts ranging from $5 to $1000.00. Donations have come from TripAdvisor, playa.info and another half dozen websites which are watching what's happening here. Please keep up the good work! If you have already contributed, please e-mail your friends, family and fellow forum members to encourage them.
Tonite, our friend Heather joined us and we spent some of your money. We hope that was OK. We bought:
hundreds of bottles of water
milk
cereal
diapers of all sizes
toilet paper
sanitary napkins
baby wipes
soap
bags of rice
bags of beans
cans of corn
disinfectant
shovels
hammers
hand tools
machetes
50 dozen eggs
toothbrushes and toothpaste
cans of tuna
plastic tarps of all sizes
cookies
some soccer balls (we've got kids to occupy)
cooking pots and utensils
cooking oil
canned veggies
work gloves
medical supplies
drums of cooking oil
a big bag of dog food
and more
Other folks are buying other things. In addition people have been dropping off food and clothing all day.
YOU DID THIS! THE MONEY AND GOODS YOU DONATED WILL GIVE THE PEOPLE OF MAHAHUAL RELIEF TOMORROW! THANK YOU!!!!!
Tomorrow morning our Chevy Express van (with us and Heather on board) will join a convoy of other trucks driven by Jessica and Alex, Willem, The boys from Israel (sorry, forgot the names), Michael , Luis, two truckloads of goods donated and collected by La Tortuga Hotel, and possibly others along with Santa Claudia and people from Cruz Roja heading for Mahuahal. Claudia and the medical team will stay in Mahahual when the trucks return to Playa. In a few days she will have a new shoping list and we will load up the trucks for another convoy.
We are keeping a very specific spreadsheet for every penny received and spent with receipts for all goods purchased. When we get a chance we will put it online for every contributor to see if they wish.
You are all fantastic. Thank you!! These things will make such a difference. We will write another report and have more pictures when we get back.
Tony & Cheri
Luna Blue Hotel & Garden
Report inappropriate post
Shoresfine
Connecticut
Joined: Feb 2006
Forum posts: 350
(8565247)
More about Shoresfine...
Posted on: 7:30 am, August 25, 2007 Save
Wow, that is fantastic!
Here is some more on the area: another e mail address to send money via paypal. You can still e mail me and ask for the email address that I have for paypal to send money direcly to Bacalar
new info......
Dear TripAdvisor Playa del Carmen fans:
Early tomorrow morning a convoy of Playa locals organized by local Cruz Roja rep Claudia (who often posts on this site) will be heading down to the Mahajual area to carry supplies for hurricane relief and to evaluate the situation for future aid. We will be carrying down not only donated clothing but anything that can be assembled today. This includes items such as utilitarian clothing, non perishable food, candles, flashlights, roofing material, plastic tarps, tents, etc., as well as the items mentioned by another poster: diapers, powdered milk, rice, beans, cooking oil, spaghetti, cookies/crackers, sanitary napkins, etc, and anything else we can collect. Generators are especially needed.
If you are already in Playa or know someone in Playa, such items can be dropped off at the Luna Blue Hotel & Garden, Calle 26 between 5th and 10th Avenue before 10 pm. Or, you can bring them to Cruz Roja (Red Cross) at the corner of Juarez and 25th Avenue at 8am tomorrow morning.
If anyone is interested in donating money, which will undoubtedly be put to very good use in this area, we will be accepting paypal donations (or cash at the hotel). One hundred percent of the money collected will go to help hurricane victims in the southern part of Quintana Roo, either directly or through Cruz Roja.
To donate money via paypal, go to www.paypal.com and click on the "Send Money" tab. The paypal email account to use is:
helpthechicas@lunabluehotel.com. (We are using the same paypal account we used for the Bloody Chicas' accident, since it's already set up).
If you want to help via check, Laura the "Map Chick" is accepting checks in the US which she will forward to Claudia down here. For more information, check out http://www.mapchick.com/Dean.html.
The Mexican goverment and international aid is attempting to help the people in this area. Unfortunately, Hurricane Dean caused destruction from one coast of Mexico to another and is still going. Relief resources are stretched pretty thin, and people along the Caribbean coast are trying to help those in our own backyard. It would be wonderful if you could help.
We'll do a blog report when we get back from our travels with Claudia tomorrow.
Many thanks to all of you,
Tony & Cheri
Luna Blue Hotel
A quick update. As of 10 o'clock Playa time this evening there have been contributions of $7248.01 through Paypal in amounts ranging from $5 to $1000.00. Donations have come from TripAdvisor, playa.info and another half dozen websites which are watching what's happening here. Please keep up the good work! If you have already contributed, please e-mail your friends, family and fellow forum members to encourage them.
Tonite, our friend Heather joined us and we spent some of your money. We hope that was OK. We bought:
hundreds of bottles of water
milk
cereal
diapers of all sizes
toilet paper
sanitary napkins
baby wipes
soap
bags of rice
bags of beans
cans of corn
disinfectant
shovels
hammers
hand tools
machetes
50 dozen eggs
toothbrushes and toothpaste
cans of tuna
plastic tarps of all sizes
cookies
some soccer balls (we've got kids to occupy)
cooking pots and utensils
cooking oil
canned veggies
work gloves
medical supplies
drums of cooking oil
a big bag of dog food
and more
Other folks are buying other things. In addition people have been dropping off food and clothing all day.
YOU DID THIS! THE MONEY AND GOODS YOU DONATED WILL GIVE THE PEOPLE OF MAHAHUAL RELIEF TOMORROW! THANK YOU!!!!!
Tomorrow morning our Chevy Express van (with us and Heather on board) will join a convoy of other trucks driven by Jessica and Alex, Willem, The boys from Israel (sorry, forgot the names), Michael , Luis, two truckloads of goods donated and collected by La Tortuga Hotel, and possibly others along with Santa Claudia and people from Cruz Roja heading for Mahuahal. Claudia and the medical team will stay in Mahahual when the trucks return to Playa. In a few days she will have a new shoping list and we will load up the trucks for another convoy.
We are keeping a very specific spreadsheet for every penny received and spent with receipts for all goods purchased. When we get a chance we will put it online for every contributor to see if they wish.
You are all fantastic. Thank you!! These things will make such a difference. We will write another report and have more pictures when we get back.
Tony & Cheri
Luna Blue Hotel & Garden
Report inappropriate post
Shoresfine
Connecticut
Joined: Feb 2006
Forum posts: 350
(8565247)
More about Shoresfine...
Posted on: 7:30 am, August 25, 2007 Save
Wow, that is fantastic!
Here is some more on the area: another e mail address to send money via paypal. You can still e mail me and ask for the email address that I have for paypal to send money direcly to Bacalar
new info......
Dear TripAdvisor Playa del Carmen fans:
Early tomorrow morning a convoy of Playa locals organized by local Cruz Roja rep Claudia (who often posts on this site) will be heading down to the Mahajual area to carry supplies for hurricane relief and to evaluate the situation for future aid. We will be carrying down not only donated clothing but anything that can be assembled today. This includes items such as utilitarian clothing, non perishable food, candles, flashlights, roofing material, plastic tarps, tents, etc., as well as the items mentioned by another poster: diapers, powdered milk, rice, beans, cooking oil, spaghetti, cookies/crackers, sanitary napkins, etc, and anything else we can collect. Generators are especially needed.
If you are already in Playa or know someone in Playa, such items can be dropped off at the Luna Blue Hotel & Garden, Calle 26 between 5th and 10th Avenue before 10 pm. Or, you can bring them to Cruz Roja (Red Cross) at the corner of Juarez and 25th Avenue at 8am tomorrow morning.
If anyone is interested in donating money, which will undoubtedly be put to very good use in this area, we will be accepting paypal donations (or cash at the hotel). One hundred percent of the money collected will go to help hurricane victims in the southern part of Quintana Roo, either directly or through Cruz Roja.
To donate money via paypal, go to www.paypal.com and click on the "Send Money" tab. The paypal email account to use is:
helpthechicas@lunabluehotel.com. (We are using the same paypal account we used for the Bloody Chicas' accident, since it's already set up).
If you want to help via check, Laura the "Map Chick" is accepting checks in the US which she will forward to Claudia down here. For more information, check out http://www.mapchick.com/Dean.html.
The Mexican goverment and international aid is attempting to help the people in this area. Unfortunately, Hurricane Dean caused destruction from one coast of Mexico to another and is still going. Relief resources are stretched pretty thin, and people along the Caribbean coast are trying to help those in our own backyard. It would be wonderful if you could help.
We'll do a blog report when we get back from our travels with Claudia tomorrow.
Many thanks to all of you,
Tony & Cheri
Luna Blue Hotel
donations via pay pal ...... or mail clothes
Thank you to all who have already helped, however , we still need help for these people. If you need an address to mail clothes and blankets to, please e mail me .
Alos, send me an e mail and I can send you a paypal address to donate to. Thanks to you all,
elaine hunter
mselainehunter@yahoo.ca
Alos, send me an e mail and I can send you a paypal address to donate to. Thanks to you all,
elaine hunter
mselainehunter@yahoo.ca
donations via paypal
The Bacalar website is putting a link for paypal donations today
http://www.bacalarmosaico.com/
thanks for anything you can spare
elaine hunter
http://www.bacalarmosaico.com/
thanks for anything you can spare
elaine hunter
Friday, August 24, 2007
a message from Bacalar
Hi Everyone,
I thought I'd give you a quick update after hurricane Dean. Please share this with any other family or friends you know may be concerned about our safety.
Bacalar took the brunt of the Category 5 hurricane early Tues. morning (1-7 a.m. was the most dramatic). It was a long night but our town survived 180 mile an hour winds and gusts somewhere around 200 mph. We lost no lives in any of the communities nearby and there was only 1 death related to the storm in Southern Quintana Roo.
We feel very fortunate to have a house, food and drinking water. Our town is devastated, there are 1,000 families without homes, and we are all pitching in to do what we can for our community of 10,000. In the surrounding towns there are many, many homeless people due to the lightweight construction of their houses - most had lamina or grass roofs and stick type walls (palapas). The beach town of Majahual was wiped out due to ocean tides, am waiting for reports from the beach area of Xcalack.
The Mexican govt. is wonderfully responsive in these situations. Although we may not have power for another 5 days, they are already rebuilding houses, bringing food and water to the neighborhoods, we have every bit of support they have at their disposal.
Well folks, there you have it. It was a WILD RIDE.....
Hugs,
This was a message from our friend in Bacalar, but she is also asking us to send clothing, blankets etc and MONEY to help re build. Many of the people do not have our advantages, help if you can please. thanks.
I thought I'd give you a quick update after hurricane Dean. Please share this with any other family or friends you know may be concerned about our safety.
Bacalar took the brunt of the Category 5 hurricane early Tues. morning (1-7 a.m. was the most dramatic). It was a long night but our town survived 180 mile an hour winds and gusts somewhere around 200 mph. We lost no lives in any of the communities nearby and there was only 1 death related to the storm in Southern Quintana Roo.
We feel very fortunate to have a house, food and drinking water. Our town is devastated, there are 1,000 families without homes, and we are all pitching in to do what we can for our community of 10,000. In the surrounding towns there are many, many homeless people due to the lightweight construction of their houses - most had lamina or grass roofs and stick type walls (palapas). The beach town of Majahual was wiped out due to ocean tides, am waiting for reports from the beach area of Xcalack.
The Mexican govt. is wonderfully responsive in these situations. Although we may not have power for another 5 days, they are already rebuilding houses, bringing food and water to the neighborhoods, we have every bit of support they have at their disposal.
Well folks, there you have it. It was a WILD RIDE.....
Hugs,
This was a message from our friend in Bacalar, but she is also asking us to send clothing, blankets etc and MONEY to help re build. Many of the people do not have our advantages, help if you can please. thanks.
Relief Bacalar, Mexico
You can send money directly to Bacalar, send me an e mail and I can let you have the email address in Bacalar to send the money to via paypal.....also we have an address to send clothing and blankets etc
The area was hit very hard . 1000 homes were flattened.
PLEASE HELP
mselainehunter@yahoo.ca
Elaine Hunter
co ordinator ..
Relief Bacalar
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