APPLES & ORANGES

Originally Published in Western Outdoor Publications Jan. 2025

Insofar as we’re just making it to the other side of the holiday season, I was reminded of an incident about 20 years ago here in La Paz.  It was just before Christmas.

One of the charity organizations here in town contacted us about some donations for a Christmas party they were going to throw.  It was for schoolkids in one of the underserved outlying communities on the city’s periphery.

This was an area of plywood houses; tin roofs and dirt streets.  Water and electricity were sporadic and erratic at best.

The organization asked if we would make a donation to the event.  That sounded great.  What would you like us to donate?

They asked for candy.

UH….I don’t think so. That won’t work for us.  We would rather donate something else if we could!

They were pretty adamant.  This was a Christmas party.  You know.   It’s the season for sugar plums and candy canes.

All the other donors were contributing big piles of candy and sweets.   How about us?

We told them we would rather donate something like apples and oranges.

There was a moment of silence.

Fruit?  Are you kidding?  Why fruit?

We explained that these kids out there are known to have terrible dental hygiene.  I mean, they don’t even have water out there.  So bathing, washing and brushing teeth are more than just problematic.

We had done work with some of the other outlying areas and the kids out there had notorious bad teeth.  So, why are we giving them more sugar?

Not to mention that diabetes and nutrition issues are rampant in Mexico.

The charity organization wasn’t real happy with us.  They insisted on candy.  We told them it wasn’t going to happen.  We were sending cartons of fruit or nothing.

They finally acquiesced.

Done deal.  We sent the orders for the fruit.

And we didn’t think about it again.  Feliz Navidad, everyone!

. . .Until we got a phone call from the organizer.

She was literally gushing with excitement.

She told us that when the kids were presented with the fruit, they were ecstatic.  As the fruits were distributed, kids cradled them in their hands like treasure.

Some ran home to show parents. Some gathered in little groups to examine them.

Apparently, many of the children had never had an orange or an apple in their lives.  Some had never even seen an apple or an orange let alone tasted one!

It turns out, the fruit were the most coveted and cherished part of the program.  Simple apples and oranges…who knew?

It’s the little things that we take for granted that make big differences.

That’s my story!

Jonathan