PARTY WITH A PURPOSE
DECEMBER 20007
The final results are in…
It is
estimated that the December 7th Party With A Purpose was
Attended by 175 people. It took place in the fiesta yard behind The
Lonely Sock Lavanderia. Thanks to Rosa and Carl West, owners of the
lavanderia, who donated the use of their facility.
The
potluck supper/information fair/fundraiser netted 13,877.5 pesos.
Since
there was no “cover charge” to attend the party, the income came solely
from sales of beverages and tickets for the raffle.
The
money was shared equally by 5 charitable causes. Four Bucerias-based
organizations (PEACE, Amigos de Bucerias Civil Association, the new
Children’s Library and the Bucerias Bilingual Community Center,) as well
as the Tabasco State flood relief fund.
This
means each cause received 2,775.5 pesos.
The
local causes also benefited from those at the party who visited the
information table of each organization to learn of its mission and the
volunteer opportunities and, perhaps, to make a “directed” donation to
their favorite cause or causes.
The
Party Planning Committee members, Dorothy and Mike Simpson, Molly
Fisher, Harold Sokolove and Gabriela Ulloa, would like to thank the
numerous Bucerias restaurant, café and bakery owners who donated raffle
prizes (dining out or food item gift certificate): Pie In The Sky
Pasteleria, La Lomita Restaurant, Karen’s Place, Rito’s Baci, Restaurant
IXTA, Mark’s Bar & Grill, La Quinta, Bambu, Adauto’s On The Beach and
Sweet Thing Bakeshop & Café. Additional Prizes came from: Art In Amber
Jewelry, Banderas Bay Health (La Cruz), Curvas Peligrosas (Puerto
Vallarta), Hacienda Furniture, Healing Hands Massage, Art & Philanthropy
(Punta Mita), PV Treasures (La Cruz), PV SCUBA and Pancho’s Wagon Rides.
There were a total of 23 prizes – some contributors provided more than 1
prize
Many
of those attending the party brought a potluck dish to share...and
combined with the nearly 2 dozen Bucerias restaurants which donated food
for the event, nobody should have gone away hungry.
Restaurants donating their most popular and/or signature dishes were (in
no particular order): La Lomita, Mark’s Bar & Grill, Burrolandia, Rito’s
Baci, Karen’s Place, Pie In The Sky, Restaurant IXTA, Adauto’s On The
Beach. Pasteleria Suiza, Lucky’s Sports Bar, Mar Y Sol, Bucerias Gardens
Bar & Grill, Sweet Thing Bakeshop & Café, Chivero’s, Sandrina’s,
Jorge’s Cocina, Bambu, Takee Outee, La Quinta, Mezzogiorno and
Adriano’s.
Several Bucerias businesses donated beverages or funds to help cover
some of the party’s expenses: Elements Realty Group, La Vida, ReMax
Bahia, Las Palmas, Victoria’s Boutique, Map of Bucerias, El Lugar and
Luz’s Deposito.
The
Party Committee would like to thank the MC for the party, Bucerias
Recycling Czar Barry Munro, who took care of announcements and with his
wife, “Vanna,” assisting, called out the wining raffle numbers. And a
big thanks to the many volunteers who helped set-up and clean-up at the
fiesta yard.
A big
round of applause for the musical entertainment, provided (donated)
throughout the evening by Bucerias guitarist Don Thompson, who also
donated the use of his sound system and by international jazz singer
Armi Grano from Vancouver, Canada, who is currently performing in
Bucerias.
On
behalf of the entire party committee and the many volunteers who helped
make this year’s Party With A Purpose a success, Thank you and we hope
to do it again, even better, next year.
By
the way, we’re still hoping someone took pictures at the party and will
share them with us.
Three AED's (Automatic External Defibrillator)
and accessories, which were donated by Phillips Medical System, arrived in
Bucerias recently. Transporting them across the border from the US to Mexico
raised some questions which caused months of delay . Once they were here,
the work of Amigos de Bucerias, A.C. began to arrange a presentation to the
municipio.
It was beginning to look like the presentation
pf the AED's wasn't going to take place on October 15th, at least not as
scheduled for 9 a.m. Nayarit, but once Bahia de Banderas Presidente Cuevas
walked into his El Valle office, things started happening.
First, the Amigos de Bucerias, A.C. banner was
taken out of Dr. Cuevas' office and hung on one wall of the large building
surrounding the interior courtyard of the Presidencia. Dr. Cuevas ordered
that a table be brought out and placed below the banner to display the AEd's
and accessories. No sooner were the items laid out on the table, another
worker showed up with a bright red table covering. Next, an amplifier,
speaker and mic appeared.
An audience of curious onlookers started gathering around the courtyard.
Many of them asked what those strange-looking devices were for. We estimate
35-40 people watched all or part of the ceremony.
The presenters and representatives of the
municipality stood shoulder to shoulder behind the table for pictures and
the presentation was off and running.
Bahia de Banderas Tourism Director Hector Sahagun was handed the mic and was
assigned to be the master of ceremonies.
After Hector issued a brief welcome, an
explanation of the reason for the presentation and its impact on the area,
each person behind the table was handed the mic and gave a short speech.
First up was Amigos member Sue Fornoff, who read a letter (in Spanish)from
Amigos President, Enrique Anaya, because he could not be there due to work
obligations.
Following her was Dr. Claudio Estrada (Dir. of
Protecion Civil Y Bomberos) in whose ambulances the AED's will ride; Harold
Sokolove, V. President of Amigos de Bucerias; Ms Kelly Trainor (US Cinsular
Agent), who helped guide the process of transferring "ownership" of the
AED's from Phillips Medical System through Amigos de Bucerias to the
Municipio of Bahia de Banderas. Although not yet back in Mexico for the
Winter, Curt Firestone, who was the contact with Phillips, was thanked for
his efforts in securing this donation. The speeches finished up with Dr
Cuevas thanking Amigos de Bucerias for the gift, valued at about 120,000
pesos.
* * *
The first round of training the municipio's paranedics on the proper use of
the AED's took place later the same day at the US Cinsular Office in
Paradise Plaza Mall. Kelly volunteered her meeting room space and
coordinated the training with Pam Thompson and Puerto Vallarta cardiologist
Dr. Jorge Chevez
Additional Protecion Civil personnel will be scheduled for training shortly.
While there were not the throngs of children expected and prepared for,
the 30 to 40 kids who did come to the Movie Festival (there was
coming-and-going) would tell you they had a great time. A number of the
kids were residents of the Manos de Amor Children's Shelter. The
organizers learned shortly after the festival started that they were not
the only "game in town" to celebrate Children's Day. There was some kind
of morning activity at the plaza and even some schools were open for
special activities that day, they were told. Due to the
smaller-than-expected crowd, there was more than enough popcorn and Pau
Pau juice available. The children were very well behaved. That is to say,
there weren't too many popcorn-throwing episodes.
When not sitting down watching the movies, several of the girls in the
audience took on the role of server, to make sure everyone had a cupful of
popcorn and a cold bottle of juice in their hand during the show. Four
movies were shown, with one intermission to let the DVD equipment cool
down. The kids were getting a little "antsy" during the 4th movie, so the
festival ended a little early (around 5 p.m.), so there would be plenty of
time for the tired volunteers to clean up Academia Bilingue and to return
the DVD equipment to Ro Pimiento and the popcorn machine to Isabel Padilla
(who stayed through the entire festival making fresh popcorn.)
A
Big THANKS to Ro, of Roots Vegetarian Restaurant and Isabel, the popcorn
lady by the footbridge, for donating the use of their equipment; to the
owner of Video Carocol for letting the Festival "rent" the movies free of
charge and to Judi Conrad, for providing the excellent space for the
festival. Thanks also go to Manos de Amor for having volunteers at the
festival to keep things tranquil and to the Rey Nayar Children's Library,
the Rotary Club of Bahia de Banderas and Amigos de Bucerias for funding
the festival.
Amigos de Bucerias
to demonstrate their skills Saturday, March 31 to family and friends. The
audience gathered in the courtyard of the Academia was delighted with
renditions of the American folk tunes “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”
and “Ten Little Indians” by the Ninos classes taught by Judi Conrad and
Laura Serrano Hernandez. Claudie Verdant’s Saturday Story Hour Group,
complete with costumes and make-up portrayed a group of adults meeting on
a street and making introductions.