Someone asked about donating to a charity in playa del Carmen so I am posting my reply hope to update it with pictures and articles along the way!

In alphabetical order the ones I know of working in Playa del Carmen

ANIMALS

Peanut Pet Shelter contact Andy, Jen or Adam. This is a no kill shelter for street dogs and abandoned animals, they have more than 70 dogs at the moment, and work very hard attending their medical needs, shots and neutering bringing them back to health and putting them up for adoption www.peanutpetshelter.org
you can read about their work in forums like intheroo and playa.info
video


Albergue de animales Peanut pet shelter, contacto Andy, Jen o Adam, un albergue que recoge perritos abandonados o de la calle, los cuida, alimenta baña y cura y los pone en adopción www,playadelcarmenpets.com
puedes ver fotos y leer de su trabajo en foros como intheroo y playa.info


ENVIRONMENT

MOCE YAX CUXTAL A.C. MOCE mocesolqroo@hotmail.com contact Aniceto Caamal Cocom or Lupita no website They are dealing with the environmental issues of the area, were responsible for stopping the building in xcacel xcacelito turtle nesting area and the operation of the second ferry pier. Currently trying to stop big corporations from breaking environmental rules and they work on educating the population to honor and respect traditions and environment

CEA Centro Ecologico de Akumal

CEA's Mission is to monitor the impact of development in the regional ecosystems and culture; to report findings and their significance to the public through education; and, through education, to influence public policy.


Flora Fauna y Cultura www.florafaunaycultura.org Groupo Xcaret´s foundation, works with turtle nesting camps and education, La Ceiba Park contact Lei Landero parquelaceiba at g mail.com
Flora, Fauna y Cultura de México, A.C. (FFCM), organización civil sin fines de lucro, nace con el firme propósito de desarrollar y brindar un mayor impulso a proyectos que vinculen a los diferentes sectores sociales con programas de conservación, protección y rescate de nuestro patrimonio natural y cultural.
- Tel. 984 8715200 ext. 480 y 477
- E-mail: sumate@florafaunaycultura.org
- www.florafaunaycultura.org


FIRE FIGHTERS

Bomberos de Playa del Carmen contact Bryan head of the patronato sicomono at prodigy dot mx dot net Check the video for more info on the patronato, fire department activities and academy

video

MEDICAL NEEDS

Angel Notion www.angelnotion.org contact Lavonna Reedman info at angelnotion.org This association takes children to the US for probono surgeries and operates a clinic in Nic Te Ha, holds the annual toy drive with the bomberos and other community service events
A non profit organization in Mexico. working and serving the people in a local clinic. Offering options in alternative health care with options of medical care. from 1999 to present have served over 100,000 people who reside in the state of Quintana roo and Yucatan penisula.

blog


Cruz Roja Red Cross www.cruzrojamexicana.org. contact Andres Bahnsen cruzpya@prodigy.net.mex
Emergency medical response and medical services Free for the population training and community service Other medical services at cost.

SPECIAL NEEDS

Uai nitz te (no website) contact Kevin Graham kevin at costamayaliving dot com ~From the heart~ in Maya association devoted to help the vulnerable population of the costa maya in Education, health and Food needs.

Muuch xiim baal (no website) Contact Gabriel Mazon small maya community 11 families building a school and tourist attraction building a sustanable environmental friendly community

Special Ed School in Playa del carmen CAM contact John Lackey dagabyhotel at g mail.com or (no website yet )

I can send you pictures of some of the activities or other maya communities that you can visit and help, take your pick! and Dios Botik= Gracias= Thank You=

There are lots of other non profit organizations and churches in Playa this are the ones that I know of or I have at some point volunteered for.

Saturdays is wash day at the peanut pet shelter, Andy and Jen have all my respect and admiration, they care for more than 20 puppies and are growing every day. In playa, street dogs are killed after 3 days if their owners don't claim them. Andy and Jen are taking them in, bringing them back to health and putting them up for adoption, we have 2, mouse and sky they are super sweet. James and I share custody of Mouse, he is back in Canada but will be back in the winter

visit www.playadelcarmenpets.com

So I did not meet the president

I wanted to write about how my day went yesterday, where I was in charge of driving the ambulance for the president just in case, but after I read what I wrote I decided it was very funny but not to be shared to the public eye. So many things I experience and do have to be kept confidential, but one day I may write a book, in Spanish with all the Claudiaventuras.



What I can write about is this

My Spanish students and David from Kings University of London went to Mahahual to visit some patients and bring them stuff. We saw Ivan and Michael and Freddy and I wanted to take David to all the people that helped so much during the Hurricane so he could add their experience to the work he is writing.
James took lots of pictures and he was impressed by what he saw so he sent them home and in reply he had his family send some money to help someone.
He bought 15 bags of clothes used and new and this weekend we went to deliver it, some bags in Limones and some in Mahahual most of them in Km 55
He read about a couple in their 60`s that lost everything and was so touched he gave them a bunch of bags of clothes for Doña Rosa to sell or give away according to the need of the people and a nice card with money for Don Aurelio, his face was a mix of disbelief, I want to cry, mixed with oh my God and again how did this happened????

There you have, a Canadian man, who he has never seen before, who he might never see again, who he will not have to do anything for in the future to repay his generosity giving him an his wife some money to start again and above all, clothes they can sell and feel they are not getting only a handout but the means to make it on their own. They never asked for anything, Anna from Chile just met them and knew about their desperate situation.

So Bob Asked me today if I was disappointed because I did not get to meet the president, and my answer was no, because you know what? I admire real life heroes like James, like Kevin and people who are presented with an opportunity to help and take it and do it, like Tony and Cheri, like Heather, like Alex and Jessie, like Michael and others that given an opportunity they are all out there, like Andy and Jen and Libby who I met while she was taking care of D.J.
I want my picture taken with them not the President. So now I am making an album with my favourite people with one line of why.

2007

This has been an intense year in every sense of the word, I proudly finished my studies of EMT and hold my diploma now, it was challenging but such a good feeling of accomplishment.
For the first time in a long time, I feel ok again, and decided to make this blog personal, since there is so much to share and my mom believes I should be writing so there I go, always listening to good advice and hoping my friends will help me with my grammar and spelling. Like everything else lately writing in English should be yet another challenge.
The purpose of this is to work on my fear of being judged and criticized, my need for being accepted and acceptance of myself.
Talking to friends this year I learned so much, people that were working after Dean and the Tabasco flooding all had something in common that I found so interesting.
We all were doing things that were considered very good, very hard, involved a good deal of self sacrifice and were at times borderline masochist, depriving ourselves from sleep and pushing our physical bodies to the limit.
"Other people do drugs", I heard, but it was so interesting to see what we all had in common, a need of self acceptance, a beaten up self esteem, a troubled childhood, and the desperate need of being liked and accepted.
This is the first time as well that I had to deal with having people talk about me, and have opinions about me, I was happy this was for doing something good, but even that would be criticized by the secretary of tourism who told me flat out that she was so disappointed with me, for making the foreigners look like heroes after all their hard work. No thank you, no gracias just a disappointing look.
My opinion on the organizations was also dented, I felt hopeless and helpless and at the end I have to accept that people, organizations and government all have their good side and not so good one, and their agendas, and their priorities no one is unconditional or follow their principles totally.
But focusing on the positive side helps, belong but remain independent, and follow my Dad’s advice, my instincts, and the signs and remain, above all, certain that I will never be put in front of a situation that I cannot handle, I will always have the tools and the means to do something about it. And the outcome will be the best for all of the ones involved since the principle of these actions are based on love and good intentions.
I have 2 new roommates now, very grateful, who fill my agenda with new projects to help them help themselves, I have a 10 year old with a good example, who thinks his mom is one of the best people in the world according to his mom’s day card, and a partner who makes things easier at home, who is not controlling, accepting and loving. All ideal setting for what ever comes next, if it is a time to regroup and rest, so be it, If it is another challenge, bring it on! I am definitely ready.
I am grateful this year to so many my paid work is going good, www.cancunmap is out and the Playa map is great I hear. I made new friends and the old ones are still there making my life beautiful.

Tabasco

Photobucket Album

THANK YOU LETTER TO FOUDATION

Almost 5 years ago, David Chimal Yam was traveling back from a long trip to Portland Maine, where 5 renowned cardiologists told us there was nothing they could do to help him, he would need a full lung and heart transplant and he was not strong enough for that type of operation, his parents dealing with resignation and he was happy to have traveled in a plane and seen the USA even if it was just the hospital, (about 40 pounds) he started learning English and his dream became visiting Disney, he saw information in a brochure about the Make a Wish foundation at the house we were staying at, they were able to make those kind of wishes reality, totally out of reach for a poor family already deep in debt with all the costly hospital and treatment expenses back home. 2 years later he had another operation that improved his condition but being 12 and weighing 21 kilos makes his life limited in many ways.



Almost 5 years later Rosario called us and what seemed impossible started happening we were sent to the Hyatt hotel in Merida through ADO to get visas. At the hotel the party started, a celebration around David, a visit from Donald, a delicious chocolate cake, cards, presents and the interest from everyone to make his wish come true, he was having a hard time understanding, why so much attention?, why the many gifts?



October 19th we started believing it, we were on our way to the airport, with special t shirts, a soccer player greeted us from David´s favorite team, presents, cake and balloons from that moment on it was all a dream, a lot of people that we did not even know were wishing him a great trip, and it was great indeed, everyone we came in contact with treated him as if he was the most important person in the universe, the airport cart form American Airlines was decorated as a dragon and gate G10 was a castle, he got so many gifts that we carried bags and more bags drawing a smile in David from ear to ear and did not vanish until we came back it was really a dream.



We met Marco from Puerto Vallarta and together with Jan they became immediately the 3 monkeys with same interests and likes, the park that they enjoyed the most was Epcot, because of all the video games and space simulator, and the soaring flight as well as the 3 dimensional movie. We stayed at Give Kids the World Village, a place out of a story book with games and attractions, swimming pool and the free restaurant buffet to have breakfast and dinner, in which all employees treat you as if you were the king of the world and there is a golf cart just dedicated to deliver free cookies and lemonade in the afternoons, a place where there is free ice cream all day long. Nothing was “No” in this trip, nothing was too much, too expensive, too far or not possible, everything was “Yes” to David , whatever you want, even his mom was a little worried he would get too spoiled.

But spoiling someone in this way was possible thanks to your foundation, and for that we send you and all the volunteers a big hug, pictures and our deepest thank you, because this memory will be engraved in all of us for as long or short our life will be and I can honestly say that what you do, will come back plenty fold in blessings and love for having made David and Marco and all of us accompanying them so happy, no one can tell how much time they will live, but you have given Life to their time and the kind of happiness, will be carried in memories, presents and pictures for a long ,long ,long time http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f83/claudiadeplaya/graciasplaya/

God Bless you!

MUCHAS GRACIAS