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A lot has happened in the last few days. Thanks for your patience awaiting this report, and for your vote of confidence and support. First, here is the accounting to date. As of 9:00am, September 3, 2007 we have collected $18,080 US dollars from 340 individual donations via CC charges to the Hurricane Dean Relief Fund. WOW! This money is exclusively used for relief. None of this money will be applied to the credit card processing fees we must pay, nor to the Hurricane Dean Relief Fund tote bags, packaging and shipping. One tote bag is being shipped to each donor of $20 USD or more. LG bought 500 tote bags for $2,415 USD. Iguana Mama has volunteered her time to do the mailing out. SS47 (Gary~ Shape Shifter) volunteered his time to work with Tshirt 1 to create the tote bags and then ship them to Iguana Mama for final mailing to donors. I don't have a number yet on all the postage. Of course we have all donated our time, and LG has bought gas for the larger truck that ran yesterday (Sep 2), its driver and helper (total $300 USD), and gas for our personal vehicles, being Scott's pickup truck, and our truck. Again, all those expenses were paid by Loco Gringo, not the relief fund. Your donation money goes only into relief goods and the donation to the Q. Roo state effort. Next, our relief purchases. We've done three purchases at Sam's Club in Cancun because they are well stocked with large bulk quantities and have low prices. The exchange rate at Sam's Club in Cancun is about 10.7 Mexican pesos (MN) per 1 US dollar (USD). For the first run of goods to Mahahual we purchased $2,430 MN worth of canned tuna, fresh tortillas (purchased separately in Playa del Carmen), and jalepeño salsa. We bagged it up in individual portions and drove it to Mahahual in our truck. After checking out the scene and our options for distribution, Scott Brown and I decided to drop it at the collection/distribution center set up a couple blocks off main street in the heart of town. Click Mahahual pictures and damage status from Aug 26/07 above for the details of that day. Next, Tuesday, August 28, we purchased $20,581 NM (NM means pesos) of goods at Sam's. We were advised by Sergio E. Gonzalez, (our consultant/facilitator for the Akumal Council, contact with the government agencies, and good friend) that MASECA was needed as well as beans and cooking oil. Maseca is a type of ground corn flower used to make tortillas and many Mexican dishes that contain them like: tacos, enchiladas, empenadas, panuchos, salbutes, etc. It's a major part of the Mexican/Mayan diet and everyone knows what Maseca is on sight. So we bought $20,581 NM ($1924 USD) worth of Maseca, cooking oil and dried whole black beans. That's two pallets of Maseca, 1 pallet of oil and 1 pallet of beans. Sergio arranged a cube truck with a driver, supervisor and gas for this second run on Aug 28, totally donated for free from Palace Resorts in Cancun. This was ordered by the President of the Palace Resorts, Ing. Jose Chapur Z. Mil Gracias to Ing. Jose Chapur Z! The initial plan was to drive to Mahahual, meet Governor of Quintana Roo, Félix González Canto, and present him with a check for $10,000 USD on behalf of the donors to the LG Hurricane Dean Relief Fund. Let me give you a little background on the decision to make this donation to the state of Quintana Roo. I believe our contribution to the state program for relief will be used exclusively for the stricken areas on the Costa Maya. That was the condition we had when we gave it, and we made it clear we would only give it directly to the Governor himself. This is exactly what took place and we photographed it as you will see. Sergio is/has prepared a press release to submit to local Q. Roo newspapers, with a photo of the large presentation check being handed to the Governor. Loco Gringo does not want, nor will we accept, any political favors for this donation. It is really from the donors, not Loco Gringo. The reason for the presentation and photo op was to document what was given, and what it is for. If publicized through the media this would tend to make those involved accountable for the donation. That was our intent in order to be true to our donors. Also, the media benefit for Loco Gringo is marginal at best since LG clients come almost exclusively from outside the country of Mexico. I accept that this check donation is somewhat controversial, mainly because the emotional response to a disaster like hurricane Dean is that relief needs to be in the form of goods handed directly to the people who need it most. Of course it DOES need to be handed directly to the people and this is also happening with your relief donations. The reality is, Loco Gringo has limited time and ability to spend all the donation money on goods to be hand delivered. We have done three trips now based on hand delivery and so we have a balance of state relief effort support (the check), and hand delivery of goods directly to people. From the beginning we wanted to write a check to an accountable entity like the Red Cross or another recognized non-profit relief organization, with the assurance that the money would only be spent on the Costa Maya. That's not easy. The Red Cross has some challenges contributing to the area because of procedural constraints. I don't know all the details but it involves a formal invitation to participate, and the jurisdiction of regional Red Cross chapters. Claudia at "Gracias Playa" would have more details (btw- she is a wonderful woman with a good heart making a big effort to help those who need it most). I would post her email here for you but that would not be right without her permission. If you search the forums you can find it. She is working very hard to help the people and is experiencing many challenges. Also, while we applaud all legitimate individual relief efforts, when we started this we did not (and still don't) know most of those involved well enough to donate your relief fund money to them. If you prefer to donate to others please do so. All help is needed. I will make an attempt to list some I feel are legitimate. It certainly will not be a complete list because I don't know them all. Anyway, the donation check that was written to the government is not necessarily just for Mahahual but may include the towns of Chacchoben, Noh Bec, Pedro Santos, Bacalar, Limones, Nuevo Jerusalem, and others on the coast like El Placer, Rio Indio, Uvero, Xcalak, etc. (see this slide show from Marcia at Mayan Beach Garden, El Placer click here). These areas are all part of the Othón P. Blanco municipality, including the state capital of Chetumal. Please understand that all those towns and beach front locations are in great need, both immediate and ongoing. I was personally assured by the Governor that our donation check would be used for targeted relief in the Othón P. Blanco municipality (essentially the Costa Maya and areas west, including the towns mentioned above) and I was promised a document letter at a later date explaining the distribution; where it went, what types of materials were delivered, plus some photos. This all happened on Wednesday, Aug 29 so I am not surprised that I have not received the letter yet. Believe me, when I do I will post it. Hopefully it will be a .pdf file with the Governor's signature to show all of you. About the Governor. Governor Félix González Canto is well liked by the people and is known to be a man of action for the people. This is the opinion of a local Mexican citizen, resident of the Akumal pueblo for many years, who is educated, and whose opinion I trust. I have heard the same opinion about him from others. He is a good man who already dealt with hurricane Emily (July 2005) and hurricane Wilma (Oct 2005) in the first year of his administration. I believe the hurricane Dean disaster is a good opportunity to build bridges between international aid, private sector relief efforts, government at the state level, and the people. The Governor and Cora Amalia Castilla (Mayor of Othón P. Blanco municipality) are tasked with the welfare of the people and towns of the Othón P. Blanco municipality (and the whole state), and in part, the rebuilding of the tourism infrastructure in Mahahual. That means hands on actions, incentives, direct aid hand-outs, etc. The government will also work in conjunction with efforts from the private sector. I suppose the big one would be the cruise ship company who built the cruise ship pier, brings their people to Mahahual for land based tours and therefore fuels tourism in Mahahual. But his obligation to work directly with hoteliers in Othón P. Blanco, and supply aid relief to the citizens of the municipality may be the priority above the curise lines who have their own funds and a large investment in Mahahual's recovery and success. Either way, the Governor has a long task in front of him. He is under funded, with little help from the private sector, and while he is receiving aid from the Federal government, when I met with him, he is waiting on much more that is needed to arrive. He welcomed our help. I think we have set a great example for the private sector. This is why we chose to contribute to the state government effort. I really hope that some of the huge companies who sell products in Mexico will see our small example of good will and consider joining us. That could make a huge difference. The Q. Roo state government is using a gymnasium in Chetumal as their collection/distribution point for relief goods. It is staffed by non-paid volunteers consisting of politicians wives and family members. In the photo portion of this report you can see the facility's interior, the volunteers at work, and their tally board with the inventory. They track what comes in, what goes out and where it goes. They also have people in the field to determine what is needed and where. The governor wanted us to see all this so we could photo it and report it to you. I thought is was impressive and it certainly gave me confidence that we had done the right thing to donate 10k of your money to the state. I hope you agree. So, back to our day on Wednesday, August 29. The plan was to meet the Governor in Mahahual, with the Palace Resorts truck containing the four pallets of goods, do the ceremonial check photo op, give him the real check, then start distributing the goods. Before we left that morning Sergio informed me that the meeting place was changed to Limones instead. Limones was also hit very hard by Dean. Some 800+ families live there. They are not considered a resort destination though some of the young people probably moved to and work in Mahahual. Some of the more entrepreneurial types may have started businesses in Mahahual as well. [BTW- it is common to find employees in the resorts of the Riviera Maya and Costa Maya who come from towns like Limones, Noh Bec, and many others in Quintana Roo and the state of Yucatan. They typically send money home.] Regardless, we arrived in Limones and soon some government people arrived and started setting up a podium and state banners with wording proclaiming the event as a relief cooperation between private sector business and the state government. Soon the Mayor of the Othón P. Blanco municipality, Cora Amalia Castilla, arrived along with the Secretary of Tourism for Q. Roo, Gabriela M. Rodríguez Gálvez, and José Ramón García who works closely with both and coordinated the event. I was surprised and a little embarrassed at all the attention. Sergio confirmed with those on site that the 10k check would only be presented to the Governor himself. That apparently was fine and we quickly put the ceremonial 10k check away. There were plenty of police around and the towns people began to gather. The Delegado (town Mayor) of Limones was also in attendance. Some cases of Maseca, oil and beans were put on display. Speeches were given by Cora Amalia Castilla and Gabriela M. Rodríguez Gálvez, then Sergio spoke in my behalf. I was asked to say a few words and what I said, in my broken Spanish, was that this food donation was not from Loco Gringo, but from people around the world who have donated to us so we could purchase it. Most of these international donors had visited the state of Quintana Roo, usually on vacation, and they love the state, its forests and jungles, its ruins, its beaches, and very much so, its beautiful and friendly people. We did a few photo op hand outs, then the big hand out began from the truck. Scott shot it all as best he could. I was informed that Sergio and I were to fly to Chetumal in a government helicopter with Cora and Gabriela. I had a quick discussion about the change of plans with Scott, gave him the keys to my truck, and asked him to go assist and photo the hand out, then drive to Chetumal and meet us for the meeting with the Governor which I was told was set for 7pm. We took off from a nearby field and then flew to the coast, did a fly-over of Mahahual to view the damage (I had seen it from the ground the Sunday before) and then we flew over Laugna Bacalar (amazingly beautiful light blue huge lagoon) and then landed in Chetumal. I found out from Scott later that all the families in Limones who showed up went away with two packages of Maseca, one liter of cooking oil, and one kilo of dried black beans, and there was more leftover. The police advised Scott and our truck supervisor that the food should be handed directly to the people in another town. The police, Scott and the truck then drove to nearby Chacchoben and handed out the rest of the food. Scott then drove to Chetumal in my truck to meet us in time for the check event with the Governor, now scheduled for 7pm at the Governor's house. José Ramón García would take care of Scott, and make sure he could find and get into the Governor's house when he arrived. The Governor's house is a state owned mansion for each Governor's term, and it is under tight security. Once we landed we were ushered into a black Suburban and taken to a restaurant for a meal. I managed to call Kay from my cell phone and update her on events (I wish it would have been her not me doing all this). So, then we went to Cocos Hotel. I sat in on about half of a meeting with the Director of Tourism, Gabriela M. Rodríguez Gálvez, Mayor Cora Amalia Castilla, and other government officials we had lunched with, and a room full of hoteliers from Chetumal and La Costa Maya. Then Scott showed up, I got him a meal, and we waited until about 8:30pm to see the Governor. After the delays we climbed back into the waiting government Suburbans and sped through the rainly nighttime streets of Chetumal to the Governor's house. Scott drove my truck with an escort by Ramón (Ramón made everything so smooth for Scott and luckily Scott speaks Spanish like a native) and Scott passed through security and joined us. Governor Félix González Canto entered the living room where we were waiting. In attendance were Director of Tourism, Gabriela M. Rodríguez Gálvez, Mayor, Cora Amalia Castilla, our consultant and friend Sergio E. Gonzalez, myself and Scott. We had some conversation. The Governor gave Sergio, Scott and I a token gift, and a book on hurricane Wilma and its effects on Quintana Roo. We then did the check photo session. I repeated that the money was from international donations, not really Loco Gringo. The Governor told me (he is fluent in English) that he would put together a letter acknowledgement for our donors thanking them; confirm what the donation will be used for, what materials it will buy, and hopefully send some photos too. He requested we visit the state collection center and see for ourselves the state relief effort. We went, saw it, photo'ed it, went back to our hotel, had a couple drinks and hit the sack. By the way, as I said before, no donation money was used for anything but the state donation and to buy the donation food. I paid for the hotel rooms and all expenses involved. Since this is getting rather long in my effort to give you all the details, I will stop here and give you more tomorrow about our trip yesterday (Sep 2), with another truck of goods delivered to Mahahual, Noh Bec and Chacchoben. The photos below are not from yesterday's trip but from the story I just told above. We still have quite a lot of money left. Sincere thanks to all of you from the people who have received assistance as a result of your kind donation to the Hurricane Dean Relief Fund. More mañana. The Palace Resorts truck parcked in Limones town, with supervisor, driver and gas, donated by President of Palace Resorts, Ing. Jose Chapur Z. Locals helping unload the truck.  A young man carrying some beans  The goods: dried black beans, 1-2-3 safflower cooking oil, Maseca  Some Limones town's people gather for the speeches and food  More trickle in in the rain   Kids trying to stay entertained until something happens  The government banner with our LG Dean Relief Fund sign stapled to it  Things are about to begin  Introductions  Sergio E. Gonzalez speaks  Mayor of the Othón P. Blanco municipality, Cora Amalia Castilla speaks  Gary Walten and Secretary of Tourism for Quintana Roo, Gabriela M. Rodríguez Gálvez and some of the kids  One of the ceremonially giveaways  More people have gathered by this point  Limones town's people heading home with the goods   After the show the police get together with Scott to load up what's left in a couple trucks  Heading out to Chacchoben with the leftover goods  A holed roof in Chacchoben. When you are in the midst of doing something like this you don't always get the opportunity to photo the worst damage. Take our word for it. It's rough out there.   Handing over some goods  I have been told the outskits of town are where the poorest people live, so they went there. Notice the little Maya lady in the distance.  More goods     there is a lot more photos like these but now we shift to Chetumal and the meeting with the Governor.  The check presentation. Left to right, Gary Walten; then our consultant and great friend who made this possible, Sergio E. Gonzalez; next the honorable Governor of Quintana Roo, Félix González Canto; next two great women, the Mayor of the Othón P. Blanco municipality, Cora Amalia Castilla, and finally the Secretary of Tourism for Quintana Roo, Gabriela M. Rodríguez Gálvez.  Now some pictures of the collection/distribution center in Chetumal. Below Despensa boxes stacked up. These are similar to care packages with a variety of goods.  More donated goods, international, state and federal goods already bagged. There is more needed.  Volunteers working. These folks are not paid and I believe are mostly relatives of politicians.   One of a couple tally boards inventory of goods  More about our September 2nd trip mañana.
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