Children's Services Main Page

	Helping poor children in Mexico Offering international volunteer opportunities Fostering fellowship among Rotarians
Children's Services Medical and Dental Care \| Literacy Initiative \| Christmas Fiesta \| A Day at the Beach \| Distribution of Donated Items \| The Children \| Quesería Migrant Labor Camp \| Colonia Rotaria \| Escuela Constitucion \| Activities \| A Day at the State Fair \| Calculators for Kids
Project Amigo provides medical, dental, educational and enrichment services to several hundred poor children who are enrolled in kindergartens and primary schools in the city of Colima and nearby rural areas. All of these programs are supported by Sponsorships. Medical and Dental Care Project Amgio provides dental, vision, and hearing screening and treatment -- services that are not otherwise available to poor children and their families. Literacy Initiative Project Amigo's Literacy Initiative is designed to improve early childhood reading skills and the enjoyment of reading for pleasure. Christmas Fiesta Every year Project Amigo and the Colima Rotary Club host a party for several hundred children. The party includes clowns, piñatas, dinner, a small toy, shoes, and a new set of clothes -- often the only new clothes they ever receive. A Day at the Beach Only children enrolled in school are eligible for the annual Project Amigo Beach trip, so it provides children an incentive to stay in school. Some of the children who live within a few miles of the coast had never seen the ocean or spent a day at the beach, before attending the Project Amigo field trip. The trip is a joint project with the Colima Rotary Club. The Club wives operate an active Ladies Auxiliary. The women prepare the traditional tortas (shredded pork sandwich on tasty roll), donating the ingredients and organizing the making of 600 sandwiches for many hungry children. Distribution of Donated Items Project Amigo accepts donations of useful items, such as school supplies and good used children’s clothes and distributes them to needy children, schools, and group homes. For a list of items currently needed by Project Amigo, see our Wish List.	Work Week Volunteer Dr. Boyd Taylor from the Rotary Club of Susanville, California, gives a boy a Christmas gift of a new set of clothes. A boy living in the Quesería migrant labor camp looks at a book given him as part of Project Amigo's Literacy Initiative aimed at improving reading through access to colorful, fun, children's books. The books, donated by the Sunrise Rotary Club of Boise, Idaho, are the first books anyone in their families has owned. Volunteer Bob Hardenbrook from the Rotary Club of Reno South, Nevada, didn't need to speak Spanish to convince the children that he was the real Santa at Project Amigo's annual Christmas Fiesta. Project Amigo Founder and Executive Director Ted Rose with friends at the annual beach party for poor children. Though some of the children live only a few miles from the coast, many have never been to the beach before.	Donate to Project Amigo's children's services by using your credit card on-line: Helping these people who do so well with so little is a blessing. I appreciate the great response that a kindness brings: the smile of a niña, the "gracias" of a niño... Dr. Boyd Taylor, DVM Rotary Club of Susanville, California The annual Project Amigo Christmas Fiesta requires: 15 kilos of cucumber; 15 kilos of jicama; 45 kilos of peanuts; 1020 pairs of children's socks and underwear; 18 piñatas; 25 American volunteers; the entire Colima Interact Club; 300 children; 1 Santa Claus.
The Children The young children helped by Project Amigo programs live in three locations in and around the city of Colima. Quesería Migrant Labor Camp Project Amigo built and staffs a school for children living in the Quesería Migrant Labor Camp, many of whom speak Indian dialects rather than Spanish. Your donations to our Migrant Children’s Fund pay for educational, medical, and social services to the children and their families. For more information about the Quesería Migrant Labor Camp and the services provided by Project Amigo, see our Quesería page. Colonia Rotaria With funds from various US Rotary Clubs and the Rotary Foundation, Project Amigo built fifty low-cost houses for homeless families in an area of Colima now called Rotary Neighborhood. The children of the neighborhood live with their families and attend various public schools. All children enrolled in kindergarten and elementary school are eligible for Project Amigo services. Click here for more information about Colonia Rotaria. Escuela Constitucion Escuela Constitucion is a government-run public primary school that serves 350 kids, mostly poor and indigenous, in the village of Cofradía de Suchitlán. Children attend school from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Families in the village make their living in the fields cutting sugar cane, picking coffee, planting and harvesting corn, or in minimum-wage construction or housekeeping jobs. Most adults have completed less than a 3rd grade education. Their children are their hope for a better future.	Children living in the Quesería migrant labor camp wait in line to receive donated shoes. Girls living in Cofradía de Suchitlán are pleased with new clothes they receive each year at the Project Amigo Christmas Fiesta. Some of the children served by Project Amigo dressed up in their "Revolution Day" finest.	I came on this trip to help others less fortunate than me. To my surprise, I feel I am taking with me more than I gave. Being in Mexico for only this short time has made me realize that I don't need material things to make me happy. Jenna Ratto volunteer from the Marin Catholic, California, Interact Club
Activities Colonia Rotaria scholars invented a fun community-building activity: a bubble-gum bubble-blowing contest. Originally designed to attract and unite the community's children, the event also brought out the parents, who not only competed against each other, but also against their kids. The scholars were amazed at how such a simple event could bring about such laughter and group harmony. One scholar shared with Children Service’s Director Jorge Torres that she had learned a valuable lesson from this community service activity: that there are many ways to serve, and that serving others can also be fun. They used the multi-use center, which was built for purposes such as this, by Colima’s sister city, Redwood City, CA. Pete and Ginny Hughes of Redwood City Rotary Club, who initiated the fund-raising effort to create this building, would have been proud to see the community center being put to such a great, unifying community use. The center serves as the meeting place for the weekly homework club of Colonia Rotaria scholars and houses the community’s sewing school where the women of the community learn a viable trade and how to clothe their families. .
A Day at the State Fair The kindergartners from the Quesería labor camp come from the most humble of circumstances of any child in our program. Yet, surprisingly, when they had their choice of interactive activities at the State Fair, they chose the Driving Station staffed by the state Social Services agency. The children learned about use of helmets for bicycles and motorcycles; and about what different traffic lights and signs mean. Most of these little ones saw their first traffic lights ever on their way to the Fair in the AmigoBus (there are none in their town). Walking them through the large animal exhibits was a thrill for the volunteers who accompanied them. The children had not seen animals so much larger than they.
Calculators for Kids Scotiabank in Mexico City contributed the funds to purchase 336 calculators for Project Amigo's primary school children and scholars. The Cofradía de Suchitlán homework club and students at Escuela Constitucion proudly display their new learning tools.
Medical and Dental Care \| Literacy Initiative \| Christmas Fiesta \| A Day at the Beach \| Distribution of Donated Items \| The Children \| Quesería Migrant Labor Camp \| Colonia Rotaria \| Escuela Constitucion \| Activities \| A Day at the State Fair \| Calculators for Kids This page last updated February, 2008

Helping poor children in Mexico
Offering international volunteer opportunities
Fostering fellowship among Rotarians

Children's Services

Project Amigo provides medical, dental, educational and enrichment services to several hundred poor children who are enrolled in kindergartens and primary schools in the city of Colima and nearby rural areas. All of these programs are supported by Sponsorships.

Medical and Dental Care

Project Amgio provides dental, vision, and hearing screening and treatment -- services that are not otherwise available to poor children and their families.

Literacy Initiative

Project Amigo's Literacy Initiative is designed to improve early childhood reading skills and the enjoyment of reading for pleasure.

Christmas Fiesta

Every year Project Amigo and the Colima Rotary Club host a party for several hundred children. The party includes clowns, piñatas, dinner, a small toy, shoes, and a new set of clothes -- often the only new clothes they ever receive.

A Day at the Beach

Only children enrolled in school are eligible for the annual Project Amigo Beach trip, so it provides children an incentive to stay in school. Some of the children who live within a few miles of the coast had never seen the ocean or spent a day at the beach, before attending the Project Amigo field trip. The trip is a joint project with the Colima Rotary Club. The Club wives operate an active Ladies Auxiliary. The women prepare the traditional tortas (shredded pork sandwich on tasty roll), donating the ingredients and organizing the making of 600 sandwiches for many hungry children.

Distribution of Donated Items

Project Amigo accepts donations of useful items, such as school supplies and good used children’s clothes and distributes them to needy children, schools, and group homes. For a list of items currently needed by Project Amigo, see our Wish List.

Work Week Volunteer Dr. Boyd Taylor from the Rotary Club of Susanville, California, gives a boy a Christmas gift of a new set of clothes.

A boy living in the Quesería migrant labor camp looks at a book given him as part of Project Amigo's Literacy Initiative aimed at improving reading through access to colorful, fun, children's books. The books, donated by the Sunrise Rotary Club of Boise, Idaho, are the first books anyone in their families has owned.

Volunteer Bob Hardenbrook from the Rotary Club of Reno South, Nevada, didn't need to speak Spanish to convince the children that he was the real Santa at Project Amigo's annual Christmas Fiesta.

Project Amigo Founder and Executive Director Ted Rose with friends at the annual beach party for poor children. Though some of the children live only a few miles from the coast, many have never been to the beach before.

Donate to Project Amigo's children's services by using your credit card on-line:

Helping these people who do so well with so little is a blessing. I appreciate the great response that a kindness brings: the smile of a niña, the "gracias" of a niño...

Dr. Boyd Taylor, DVM
Rotary Club of Susanville, California

The annual Project Amigo Christmas Fiesta requires:

15 kilos of cucumber;
15 kilos of jicama;
45 kilos of peanuts;
1020 pairs of children's socks and underwear;
18 piñatas;
25 American volunteers;
the entire Colima Interact Club;
300 children;
1 Santa Claus.

The Children

The young children helped by Project Amigo programs live in three locations in and around the city of Colima.

Quesería Migrant Labor Camp

Project Amigo built and staffs a school for children living in the Quesería Migrant Labor Camp, many of whom speak Indian dialects rather than Spanish. Your donations to our Migrant Children’s Fund pay for educational, medical, and social services to the children and their families. For more information about the Quesería Migrant Labor Camp and the services provided by Project Amigo, see our Quesería page.

Colonia Rotaria

With funds from various US Rotary Clubs and the Rotary Foundation, Project Amigo built fifty low-cost houses for homeless families in an area of Colima now called Rotary Neighborhood. The children of the neighborhood live with their families and attend various public schools. All children enrolled in kindergarten and elementary school are eligible for Project Amigo services. Click here for more information about Colonia Rotaria.

Escuela Constitucion

Escuela Constitucion is a government-run public primary school that serves 350 kids, mostly poor and indigenous, in the village of Cofradía de Suchitlán. Children attend school from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Families in the village make their living in the fields cutting sugar cane, picking coffee, planting and harvesting corn, or in minimum-wage construction or housekeeping jobs. Most adults have completed less than a 3rd grade education. Their children are their hope for a better future.

Children living in the Quesería migrant labor camp wait in line to receive donated shoes.

Girls living in Cofradía de Suchitlán are pleased with new clothes they receive each year at the Project Amigo Christmas Fiesta.

Some of the children served by Project Amigo dressed up in their "Revolution Day" finest.

I came on this trip to help others less fortunate than me. To my surprise, I feel I am taking with me more than I gave. Being in Mexico for only this short time has made me realize that I don't need material things to make me happy.

Jenna Ratto
volunteer from the Marin Catholic, California, Interact Club

Activities

Colonia Rotaria scholars invented a fun community-building activity: a bubble-gum bubble-blowing contest. Originally designed to attract and unite the community's children, the event also brought out the parents, who not only competed against each other, but also against their kids.

The scholars were amazed at how such a simple event could bring about such laughter and group harmony. One scholar shared with Children Service’s Director Jorge Torres that she had learned a valuable lesson from this community service activity: that there are many ways to serve, and that serving others can also be fun.

They used the multi-use center, which was built for purposes such as this, by Colima’s sister city, Redwood City, CA. Pete and Ginny Hughes of Redwood City Rotary Club, who initiated the fund-raising effort to create this building, would have been proud to see the community center being put to such a great, unifying community use.

The center serves as the meeting place for the weekly homework club of Colonia Rotaria scholars and houses the community’s sewing school where the women of the community learn a viable trade and how to clothe their families.

A Day at the State Fair

The kindergartners from the Quesería labor camp come from the most humble of circumstances of any child in our program. Yet, surprisingly, when they had their choice of interactive activities at the State Fair, they chose the Driving Station staffed by the state Social Services agency.

The children learned about use of helmets for bicycles and motorcycles; and about what different traffic lights and signs mean. Most of these little ones saw their first traffic lights ever on their way to the Fair in the AmigoBus (there are none in their town).

Walking them through the large animal exhibits was a thrill for the volunteers who accompanied them. The children had not seen animals so much larger than they.

Traffic Safety

Large Animal Exhibits

Calculators for Kids

Scotiabank in Mexico City contributed the funds to purchase 336 calculators for Project Amigo's primary school children and scholars. The Cofradía de Suchitlán homework club and students at Escuela Constitucion proudly display their new learning tools.

Escuela Constitucion

Helping poor children in Mexico Offering international volunteer opportunities Fostering fellowship among Rotarians

Children's Services

Helping poor children in Mexico
Offering international volunteer opportunities
Fostering fellowship among Rotarians