One of 11 routes…

Every year since 1990 (that’s 23 years!), thanks to Yolanda Medina and her entire family plus friends, over 2000 families in the very poorest areas of Mazatlán receive a whole chicken, 10 days’ worth of food, some gently used clothing, toys and candy for the kiddos.

Waiting my turn

This is a truly multinational effort, with loads of locals, foreign residents, snow birds and even tourists joining in. It’s quite magical. It is our favorite event of the year. The joy of being able to bring such joy to people! Won’t you join us or help out? There are options for nearly everyone. Here are a few:

1. Buy tickets for the fundraiser breakfast on Saturday December 7, 2013, from 8:30 am at the API/cruise ship dock. Your ticket, which costs 150 pesos, will include breakfast, a raffle, and entrance to a Christmas Bazaar and Silent Auction. Tickets are on sale at the Mazatlán Membership Library in the Centro Histórico, as well as at Post-N-Ship in the Golden Zone (across from DHL and Aeromexico, next to Dolce Mami). You can call me at 118-4114, or Jorge Medina, in English, at cell phone number 6691-10-0744, and he’ll get you tickets. Quite a few foreign residents will be selling them as well.
2. Can’t make the breakfast? Please give a donation! 100% of your money goes to buy food for those in need, as all of us who work on this project are volunteer. People who are out of town asked if they could please donate, so I’ve set up a link on the right of this blog, right under where readers subscribe. Just click on “Donate” and you can do so via PayPal. I know recipients will appreciate your help!
3. Collect your gently used clothing, toys, and stuffed animals, buy some candy to give the kids, donate used blankets or coats, and bring it by Jorge’s shop, Quince Letras Wrought Iron (corner of Francisco Villa and Tampico, just down the hill from the Church of Cristo Rey /Christ the King church), downtown.
4. Make items for the Christmas bazaar—craft items, sewn items, canned goods, pies, cakes. 100% of the money collected at the bazaar goes to buy food for those in need.
5. Donate items for the Silent Auction. Do you own a restaurant or know someone who does? Do you own a spa or frequent one? How about a hairdresser? Do you make stained glass or paint, or…? Please, help us collect items to be sold in the Silent Auction. It’s a great way to promote a local business, and for such a good cause!
6. Solicit donations of foodstuffs with a shelf life: rice, beans, pasta, canned tuna, tomato puree, vegetable oil, sugar, salt, instant coffee, and cookies are most welcome!
7. Join Yolanda the week of December 16th, to pack bulk foodstuff into smaller portions, so we can be ready to go on the “big day,” December 24th.
8. Let us know you have a truck and are game to drive it on December 24th. We (almost) always need more vehicles in which to transport the frozen chickens and food sacks.
9. Join us on December 24th! That is the day we will meet early in the morning at Quince Letras to assemble ourselves into routes, pack up the items we’ll need for that route, and then drive to the colonias to hand it all out. Show up at 7:00 if it’s your first time; 6:30 if you know the drill.

Want to know more details about this project? Other posts on this blog about Breakfast of the Chickens:

• Desayuno de los Pollos/Breakfast of the Chickens
• Entrega de los Pollos/Handing out Chickens — Where/What Time
• Thank You, Colonia San Antonio & Familia Medina, for Making Our Christmas So Special