Charity for Children Supports Nutrition and Sports
Grupo Apoyo Ray Thomas (GART) update for 2012; the past, present and future plans or programs of this wonderful charitable organization. While Ray Thomas, the founder still pushes on with more sports as well as the feeding programs in schools programs for most of Baja Sur as he says “there is always more to be done to help the children and communities overall”.
Just past week Ray invited myself, along with other volunteers and foundation members to visit the senior’s Casa Dia de San Miguel in Cabo San Lucas for a food and sandal give away. Thanks to Steve Mills the sandals were obtained by a company in Seattle called “Superfeet” (www.superfeet.com ) that donated them and the foundation felt Casa Dia de San Miguel would be a great place to give them out along with some basic food donations as well to help this wonderful senior center of Cabo. I had never been to this senior center before and I have to say I was truly impressed with the turnout, facility, staff and mostly the friendly appreciative smiles from everyone.
This center not only provides a place for seniors to socialize and eat but to do yoga, arts, and crafts (that they sell to raise money for themselves) as well as receive massages and other alternative medical help. Everyone their seemed very happy; not just for the small donations but for a chance to visit with new people. I truly enjoyed the spirit of their company and plan to make more time to visit there more often. It did not feel at all like a depressing “old folks home”; these seniors like to dance and party with the best of them.
After a couple of hours it was time to move on to the Leaonardo Gastelum School where one of the foundation’s kitchen building programs had been slowed down due to government bureaucracy is back on track and will be soon finished up by March 1st and serving 100+ children at least one good meal a day. When we finished up the quick tour and inspection we made ready for a gift giving that had been arranged for the children of the school. Ray and his long time friend and Nico, president of the GART Foundation, excel at these events. Nico and Ray have been giving away gifts from sports equipment, baseball cards to stuffed animals for over 20 years in all kinds of small pueblos as well as the major cities of Baja Sur. Most of that which is donated comes from the U.S
Currently Grupo Ray Thomas A.C. (GART) has 5 schools in La Paz with 1200 children in Sports programs; 2 Kitchens in La Paz with 200+ kids currently being fed and 200 more by April 1st. In the los Cabos area there are 4 schools with 800 children in sports programs. GART also has plans for several new kitchens in addition to the model kitchen of Leonardo Gastelum school for the Los Cabos area this year as well as adding more children to the sports programs. GART will be having their major Champagne Jam fund raising event in Cabo San Lucas on March 30th.
The Champagne Jam at Casa Dorado was a great success last year and promises to be even a greater event this year thanks once again to Casa Dorado and many other volunteers. If you can make it to the Champagne Jam please purchase your tickets as soon as possible and if you are not able to make it but would like to make a donation you may via credit cards using the PayPal account using Nico’s email; papanico57@yahoo.com.mx . For those interested in making donations in the U.S and would like the tax write-off just email Ray at PapaRayThomas@yahoo.com for the current address and information as they have recently changed the Y.E.S. (Youth Educational Sports) which is American side of the foundation to a new office location in Modesto California. Y.E.S has been a great help in the U.S. to assist in gathering sports equipment and gifts for the children. If you have an association, church or school that would like to donate goods or monies please email Ray or myself.
Finally I would like to thank all of the GART staff, volunteers and mostly those that have donated in the past to help make this one of the most effective groups to help the children and the communities of Baja. There are so many to list but one of the biggest is Casa Dorado who has not only provided a great place for the Champagne Jam charity, but have given monies and assistance over and over to the Los Cabos area. Another organization that deserves great credit is the Los Cabos Children Foundation (LCCF) founded by Tom Walsh. This organization has been providing most if not all of the monies to cover the GART administrative costs which means 90%+ of the monies donated go directly to feeding or providing sports programs for the children. U.S Foods is also a key player in helping GART by providing shipping from the U.S / Mexico border and storage near the San Jose del Cabo Airport.
Please feel free to email with any questions or comments concerning this article or how you can be of help.
A grateful thanks to all, James Glover jag@bajainsider.com
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