Catalina Island News

Avalon Rotary Participated in 28th Annual Ensenada Charity Trip

2016-03-23
Rotary Club of Avalon

Between January 8-10, 2016, Eleven Island residents, together with their friends and family joined with 75 Rotarians from throughout Southern California to make an annual trek to Ensenada.  Rotary clubs are known for their global charity work and in keeping with that each year for 28 years Southern California Rotarians have made a trip to Mexico around the time of Kings Day to give away clothes, toys, food and blankets to some of the neediest communities and shelters in Northern Mexico.

In recent years the crackdown on border crossings between Mexico and the US have had a devastating impact on social services in Mexico.  Already lacking capacity, the services must now meet needs of Immigrants from not only Mexico, but locations in Central America from which travelers have failed in their attempts to reach the US, often without the means to return to their original homes.  Shelters and Transitional Living Centers bear the brunt of this failed migration and homelessness results for many.  Northern Mexico is also home to many itinerant farm workers and other poor people who live in remote or temporary locations lacking in medical care, dental care and basics for food and shelter. 

Knowing of these needs, Club Rotario Ensenada Centenaria hosts an annual gathering in partnership with Avalon and other area Rotary clubs for distribution of much needed basics and to act as facilitator for provision of medical and dental services offered for free. 

This year Avalon Rotary delivered 1,070 blankets, baby clothes, children’s gloves, hats and toys and joined in assembling food bags of items donated by other Rotary clubs which included flour, beans, rice, tuna and canned tomatoes.  The food and toys were divided up into dozens of vehicles that carried the items and Rotarians to remote locations for giveaways.   

“The gratitude expressed by the recipients is powerful,” according to Lourdes Thoricht who has participated in the annual program for nearly all of 28 years.  “Each year I am moved so deeply and driven to do more the next year.”  At the end of the delivery day all of the participants gather in the home of a local Doctor who together with two area Dentists provides free care in a handful of remote clinics.  At that gathering many shared stories of the people they met and then a brief ceremony was held in which clubs presented checks to sustain ongoing medical care throughout the year.

If you are interested in supporting the Avalon Rotary Club Foundation in this and other programs contact Christy Lins at christylins@sbcglobal.net or 310-510-9001, or set up your Amazon online orders using www.smile.amazon.com and select the Avalon Rotary Club Foundation as the recipient of .5% or more for everything you order.