Living at Lake Chapala in Mexico

All afternoon and evening I've been receiving emails and phone calls from various clubs, organizations, and individuals who have information to share about how we, the foreign community here at Lake Chapala and those who live North of the border but who care about the Lakeside community can help our friends and neighbors through this disaster in San Juan Cosalá.

This blog entry will be long--but I'll mark different groups with headings. The photos were all taken at the Racquet Club and begin to reveal the degree of destruction that area has experienced. I experience more awe and amazement and am more grateful with every photo that we are not planning a series of mass funerals. It feels like a miracle to me that at this moment there are no confirmed deaths and and only one uncomfirmed possible missing person.

Are you unable to locate a friend or loved one in the Racquet Club or San Juan?

As you can imagine, there are many in the village who want to help those in need and many who are worried as to the well-being of friends or family in the Racquet Club. A group is forming to help collect and disseminate that information. In addition this group is attempting to discover the urgent needs of folks in the Racquet Club an SJC who may need medicines, need to contact relatives North of the Border, etc.

There is now a system organized, with several Racquet Club residents who can be contacted and who are willing to walk through the Racquet Club to check for the condition of homes or of the location of residents.

If you are in the Racquet Club and need assistance or if you are in the rest of the area or in the US and need to locate someone, or if you are anxious to have a visual report of the outside of a home in the Racquet Club or if you live in the Racquet Club and can help with this project, Call Pedro of Pedro's Goumet Restaurant at 766-4747 or email him: peterjohnpalmer@hotmail.com

Hands On Help
Are you able bodied enough to hike into San Juan and the Racquet Club to go house to house to check on people and to help determine the need for help, or to deliver medications and other urgently needed supplies to those stranded on the mountain? A group is organizing to go to SJC on Saturday for this house to house check. Pedro is keeping the list of folks who are willing to help. Email him at: peterjohnpalmer@hotmail.com

Donations for Friday and Saturday
At this time there are plenty of clothes for the amount of storage space that is available.

The most urgent needs continue to be bottled water, juice and food. There are food preparation centers set up in San Juan Cosalá. At this time it is suggested that in addition to the tuna, canned or fresh fruits, cereal, dried or fresh milk and other easy to prepare items that rice, beans, meat, chiles, vegetables and other items that can be used to cook hot nutritious, filling food is needed.

Take these donations to the delegacion (the "town hall") located diagonally across the street from the bank at the Ajijic plaza.

No More Clothes for the Moment. Mattresses and Bedding
If you have used mattresses that you are thinking of replacing, this might be the best of all times to do so. Donate your used mattresses or buy mattresses for folks.

A tractor trailor load of blankets and comforters arrived this afternoon from Guadalajarans who are also trying to help ease the pain of our neighbors. Because folks are sleeping on floors, outside and in muddy conditions, the need for bedding is ongoing.

LCS Appeal for Help
I have received this message from Lake Chapala President Charlie Smith and been asked to display it here:

Help!!
There are hundreds of people homeless in San Juan Cosalá and other western Lakeside areas. They are in desparate need of food, bottle water, blankets and other necessities. The Lake Chapala Society has arranged with the Ajijic town government to deliver the donations received at the LSC to those who need them in SJC.

Because they can accept your generous cash donations, our board has agreed to allow you to make cash donations at the LCS. We then will buy the needed items and they will be delivered to San Juan Cosalá.

If you want to donate money, powdered milk, blankets, food such as canned beans, tuna fish, bottled water or blankets, we can accept them at the LCS grounds.

This is a serious catastrophe. People are homeless and in need of help. Help LCS do it's part.

For more information email Charlie Smith at chsmith36@yahoo.com

From a Society of Local Organizations:

PLEASE NOTE -- According to the Delegación in Ajijic as of 12:30 p.m. Thursday, September 13 -- the MOST IMPORTANT need at this moment is non-perishable food; powdered milk for babies and children (it can be purchased at Surtidor on the Carreterea just past Colón.

Here is the information that has been set up so far and how you can help:

A drop off location for supplies has been set up in Ajijic at the corner of Colón and Hidalgo (next to the police station at Delegación de Ajijic.

They are accepting
Food - roasted chicken, tortillas, cans of beans, tuna, etc. that have pop tops, bottled water, juices, fresh fruit. (In other words items that are ready to eat.)
Bedding - sheets, pillows, especially blankets
Toiletries -- toilet paper, toothbrushes and paste, towels, soap, microdyne, diapers, etc.
Clothing will be needed again in the near future, but at the moment there is no where to store and process it.

Lake Chapala Shrine Club is collecting money to buy supplies. Perry is in contact with Mayor Gerardo Degollado and the Red Cross. This will assure that we are giving the most urgent supplies when needed. Contacts are: Ana Maria DeFry, 763-5227, cell 01-333-455-3802, email defryangeloanamaria@prodigy.net.mx or Perry King email pking@mexicowireless.com

Cruz Roja Chapala--Cash Donations, Pay Pal and Credit Card
--Along with everything else they are doing in this crisis, Cruz Roja will take cash or check donations for this recovery effort.

If you are writing a check make it out to 'Cruz Roja Chapala'. If you need a receipt for US tax deductible donations, they can provide that. You can take your donations to the Cruz Roja in Chapala, to the Cruz Roja desk at the Lake Chapala Society, or you can go to Cruz Roja Website and donate via Pay Pal or Major Credit Card.

So they can properly distribute the funds please label your donations 'San Juan Cosalá Relief'. If you wish your contribution be used only for Chapala, please mark it accordingly.

The web address is: http://www.cruzrojachapala.com/.

The Jocotepec Government's Requests:
Mayor Gerardo Degollado has contacted Perry King, Lake Chapala Shrine Club President and asked for help. San Juan Cosalá has been hit the hardest, but there has also been flooding and mudslides east of Ajijic and the hillsides in Chapala. Hundreds of families are homeless and many children are separated from their parents. Fatalities are unknown at this time.

The Mayor said the most urgent need was for blankets and diapers for the known 40 to 50+ homeless children. These children are being collected by the Mexican Army and Police and taken to an emergency shelter set up at the Chapala Rodeo arena.

Emergency Agencies were meeting last night (Wednesday)at 7 p.m. to assess the donations received yesterday and list items needed today and in the future.

Perry King (Shriner's) will be meeting with Richard Belair (Red Cross) today to hear the needs of the Red Cross. As Perry stated in his email to me, it is important to look at this problem in three phases:

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Judy King is publisher of  Mexico Insights' Living at Lake Chapala, a monthly online magazine for people interested in Mexico's Lake Chapala region, in the state of Jalisco.

Judy, a 16-year resident of Ajijic on Lake Chapala's north shore, conducts weekly newcomer's seminars, shares her expertise about Mexico in her monthly online magazine, and in the "Mexico Lindo" column for the Lake Chapala Review.

Judy also is a speaker for local organizations and visiting tour groups about the Lakeside area and Mexican customs and holidays.