Lupita Jimenez entertains the sold-out crowd.
Patrick O’Heffernan Ajijic (JAL) The sold-out Wednesday afternoon concert starred Lupita Jimenez, Roy Cruz and SAGREY and featured awards, door prizes, opportunities to underwrite a Cruz Roja table at LCS, plus free-flowing alcohol and appetizers. But the real star was Cruz Roja.
Produced by LCS-Board Chair Steve Balfour – who celebrated his birthday at the concert – the event was classily designed with white tablecloth seating, waiters serving delicious appetizers and tequila and a program packed with talent and events. But the focus was on rebuilding Cruz Roja, financially hurt by the Covid crises that prevented its fundraising events, helping it build a badly-needed new facility to treat patients. The LCS concert kicked off a new fundraising campaign for Cruz Roja, netting $320,000 pesos.
Sponsors included Jose Cuervo, Semanario Laguna, Pancho’s Deli Market, and Ray Domenech of Casa Domenech and Angelica’s restaurant. The audience was both Mexican and Expat and the language from the stage was both English and Spanish so everyone felt at home.
The concert opened with Ajijic’s Mexican folkloric troupe performing traditional dances in colorful costumes as cameras clicked and whirred. Next, local Mexican singer Lupita Jimenez, a long-time friend and supporter of Cruz Roja, was introduced and let loose with classic Mexican songs and a few American Standards, and got the crowd singing with her – Expats and Mexicans together in Spanish.
As the applause died down, Yolanda Martinez, President of Cruz Roja Chapala, mounted the stage, almost dwarfed by the huge red cross podium. She thanked the packed crowd for their generosity and then welcomed the National Cruz Roja Vice President and translated his address. The architects for the new facility then walked the audience through the design process, and urged them to look at the plans for the new Cruz Roja medical facility arrayed around the Lawn on easels.
Freddie Mercury imitator Roy Cruz, put on a preview of his coming July 25 performance at LCS, singing Queen’s classics, moving around the crowd, urging them to join him in song and even welcoming a super Queen fan who had traveled here to see him. The local band SAGUEY, fronted by blues/jazz singer Barbara Saguey, kept the crowd dancing until well past closing time.
The music was broken up, however, with a door prize drawing for prime bottles of tequila, an opportunity for people to get together to pledge $40,000 pesos for a new LCS table for Cruz Roja (they did), and a birthday cake for LCS-Board Chair Steve Balfour.
The concert was a one-time event to launch Cruz Roja’s fundraising season, but the need to support Cruz Roja is ongoing. With a monthly budget of $300,000, Cruz Roja ‘s ambulances and food and health services serve everyone but are a lifeline to the poor in Lakeside because it charges no fees for its services, relying on donations for its operations and to build a fund to construct a new facility.
Donations of any amount can be made by dropping them off at Yoly’s Unisex Styling Salon, next to El Torito market in Ajijic or at the Cruz Roja Chapala headquarters in Chapala next to Christina Park.
John Kelly and firefighting equipment in his garage awaiting distribution.
Patrick O’Heffernan, Ajijic. Somewhere in a warehouse in Vancouver three shinny pumper trucks are waiting to be put on a ship to Puerto Vallarta to be distributed to three lucky Jalisco fire stations by Lakeside Assistance.
The used trucks – all in very good condition – were donated by fires stations in Richmond Canada and the northern Vancouver suburbs, who have been sending used equipment to charities for years with the blessing of their local mayors and city councils.
The three trucks are pumpers – trucks equipped to pump water from an internal tank or a tanker truck to a fire. The trucks are destined for Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos, Poncitlán, and Atotonilquillo, each of which has been waiting for as long as three years for trucks.
John Kelly, of the Lakeside Assistance met with Laguna and said that the trucks came to them through Toronto-based Firefighters Without Borders, who for years have been collecting used fire trucks and other equipment, refurbishing them, and making them available to non-profit organizations to distribute to underequipped fire stations around the world. One of the Chapala Bomberos’ two pumping trucks was donated by Lakeside Assistance who obtained it from Firefighters Without Borders.
According to Kelly, the trucks are valued at about $5000 each, but if the stations had to pay for them through a broker, they would cost at least three times that much. The fire stations have to pay for tires, batteries and shipping costs.
Kelly, who is Canadian retired military, got involved when a friend in the Royal Canadian Legion in Chapala asked for help finding “mules” to bring used fire equipment into Mexico, and the request eventually grew into a container shipment of 650 sets of hoses and uniforms. Kelly has been involved ever since, visiting fire stations all over Mexico to assess their need and ability to use equipment. And even today, he has 50 sets of hoses and helmets and fireproof uniforms in his garage awaiting distribution.
Although the donations and sponsored by Lakeside Assistance, delivery dates are up to the municipalities that will receive the trucks and has not been determined yet, as their transfer is awaiting lifting of Covid restrictions. Processing and customs and safety approvals take about six months
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