That's My Story

So little goes a long way with so little effort!

It starts building up pretty fast!

SMALL SPACE LITTLE EFFORT BIG IMPACT

Originally Published the Week of December 11, 2013 in Western Outdoor News

A few months ago, I got a call from a friend here in La Paz who does some wonderful work with destitute Mexican kids that truly live on the fringe of our little city in more ways than one.   Many were in an orphanage.

She said, she was having a fiesta of sorts for the kids to celebrate that some of them were going to their First Communion which was a big step.  It wasn’t much, but she was putting all her heart into giving them something nice.  She was reaching out to some of the businesses in town for help.  There would be about 80 kids to feed.

On the phone,  she told me that one dive shop was donating several cakes.  Another fishing operator was pitching in for cookies.  A store had several dozen donuts.  All good and wonderful.

My first thoughts were GACK and CHOKE!

She asked if we could help and if she could put me down for about 5 pounds of candy!

I told her that I couldn’t do that.  The last thing they need is sugar.   Especially, poor kids.  Actually… It’s the last thing any kid needs.

Hey…look at my belt line and I’m no stranger to donuts and cake and cookies, but I asked her, “C’mon!  Is there any other food going to be served?”

I was being a Grinch.  There was a pause.  Then, I told her I’d buy 100 apples instead.

There was another pause.  Apples?  For a fiesta?  She said no one had ever passed out apples.  This was a FIESTA!  Would we donate some pan dulce (sweet rolls) maybe?

Sorry.  I told her, I’d go buy some apples and I’d bring them by her office that weekend.  And that’s what I did.  No big deal.  Go to store.  Fill bags with apples.  She thanked me when I saw her, but  could tell, it was a reluctant thanks.

I mean, I get it.  Sure.  When you and I opened our Halloween bags…apples weren’t exactly high on the list, right?

I didn’t think any thing else of it.  Apples.  Yea.  Next project.  Did my good dead.  Yawn.

On Monday, she called me.  She told me to check my e-mail right away.  She was excited.  OK…open…click…here we go…

Pictures came up on my computer screen.  It showed  a party and little Mexican kids running around a hardscrabble concrete and dirt floor…delightedly chasing…APPLES!!!  There were more photos of kids sitting in the dirt leaning against walls…eating APPLES!!! Laughing kids with apples in their hands!

To all this was a note, “Jonathan, muchas gracias for the apples!  They were the big hit of the party.  Many of these children had NEVER eaten an apple before.  Thanks for the great idea!”

Never eaten an apple?  Kids…7…8…9 years old.  Never eaten an apple.  Think about that.

I told my wife.  She thinks about stuff like that all the time.  She’s got the big heart.  I’ve got the fat head.  She wants to save every kid.  Every bunny.  Every puppy.

She thinks I don’t know that she’s got all kinds of secret donations going.  I know we’ve adopted some kids.  She sponsored a goat for one village.  A cow to another.  She’d held charity functions at our restaurant.  God bless her.

She heard the story of the apples and wanted to do more.  She came into our office one day and said she signed our business in La Paz up as members of “Pack for a Purpose.”

Oh-oh…what has she gotten us into?

Actually, it’s pretty easy.  She said it’s a loose organization geared toward travelers.  You find out where you’re going.  You find out what folks need.  You stuff a little extra in the extra space in the luggage.

Extra toothbrushes…deflated balls and a pump…pencils and notebooks…Things we take for granted (the apple idea) that mean so much to others.

She said our Baja fishing clients bring down empty ice chests all the time. They fill them with their frozen fish to bring home.

Clients still have to pay the airlines for them as luggage.  Even if they are empty.  So, why not put something “IN THEM?”

She arranged for little notes to be put into all the envelopes we send to our fishing clients when they book with us.  It told them all about her idea to “Pack for a Purpose.”

I can’t take credit for what happened over the next few months.

But, in about 3 months, Jill collected and distributed close to 300 pounds of  notebooks, papers, colored pencils, crayons, bike helmets, pumps, baby clothes, backpacks, toothbrushes, baseball hats, balls,  t-shirts, tennis shoes, kids books, teddy bears, sweaters, and more.

Pretty much all of it new.  Just “extra” stuff that clients and friends had around the house like sweaters that were never used or that pair of shoes that never fit or the 20 boxes of #2 pencils from the closet.

Or from the dentist who gets boxes of toothpaste samples or the restaurant guy who ordered 5 dozen too many t-shirts with his logo on them…all medium!  The elementary school teacher who has a drawer load of extra colored pens and pencils and the end of the year.

There are times when we have a pretty good pile of stuff in the office!

Thanks to the generous hearts and empty ice chests of our clients.  And my wife playing Santa during the year.

Making little parts of the world better.  Small spaces.  Big impacts.  Little efforts.  One apple at a time.

God bless for a safe and happy Christmas and holidays!

If you’d like more info:  www.packforapurpose.org.  Or, if you’re coming to visit us in La Paz, give my wife Jill and shout:  tailhuntress@tailhunter-international.com

That’s my story!

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Jonathan Roldan has been writing the Baja Column in Western Outdoor News since 2004.  Along with his wife and fishing buddy, Jilly, they own and run the Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet in La Paz, Baja, Mexico  www.tailhunter-international.com.  They also run their Tailhunter Restaurant Bar on the famous La Paz malecon waterfront.  If you’d like to contact him directly, his e-mail is riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com  or drop by the restaurant to say hi!

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Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

http://www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones:

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  http://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/pangapirate

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”