– Press releases

On Saturday, April 25, the Mammoth Lakes Noon Rotary Club and 45 volunteers traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, to build a home for the Gonzalez family.

mammrot

Photos courtesy of Anneke Bishop

Mammoth Lakes Noon Rotarians, led by Pat Hayes, General Manager at the water district and including President Bill Taylor, Tony Taylor, Cynthia Hayes and Dennis Brown, District Governor Gail Ellingwood, several Bishop Rotarians, a dozen Rotary Interact high school students from Mammoth and Bishop, and five college students from the UC Irvine Rotaract club participated.  In addition, former Mammoth residents Dan and Kathy Watson and Rich Boccia participated as well.

Under the expert guidance of master builder Sean Farragher, a volunteer from Orange County, the team assembled and painted the new frame home for Modesta and Celestino in one day in near-record time.

mammrot3

After crossing the border in convoy and making our way to the build site in a rural section of Tijuana near the Pacific Ocean, construction got underway at about 8 am and finished by 2:30 pm.  The Gonzalez family has been a member of Corazon for the last eight years and earned credit for their new home by volunteering for a number of other previous builds.   They provided a delicious lunch to the volunteers.  A ceremony to turn over the keys to their new home followed the completion, and for the first time, now have a home that they can lock up and call their own.  All participants returned safely to the US.

mammrot1

This marks the fourth year that the Mammoth Lakes Noon Rotary has been working with Corazon.  The Club donates money for the construction materials and provides the volunteer labor.  The club wish to thank all those that participated in this life changing event for all, and to thank the Bishop Rotary for providing some financial assistance.

###

Working with the Corzaon Building Project, Mammoth Lakes Noon Rotary Club organized a group of nearly 50 volunteers including Rotary Club of Bishop member Anneke Bishop, her son, Ian Bishop, Interact students and friends, Sabrina Traynor, Angie  Flores, Keirsten Andersen, Diana Garcia, Zoe Andersen, Barbara Rechart, Dylan Skare, and Jose Garcia all joined in with volunteers to build a house in one day in Tecate, Mexico.

mammrot2

They left April 25th and spent the night in El Cajon.  Sunday everyone returned home, tired but happy and satisfied. The completed project concluded with a simple but moving ceremony where keys to the new  16 x 20 foot home were presented to a happy family.  This home gives them shelter, security and perhaps more importantly, they were given “hope” for a better future.  Anneke plans on participating in this program again next year.

 

 

Discover more from Sierra Wave: Eastern Sierra News

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading