Rotary - Project C.U.R.E. Partnership

Tom Wilson and Richard Stanley are winter residents in Bucerias, Mexico. They have taken on a challenge. They are committed to helping improve the medical care/supplies available to small rural clinics in Mexico. Richard and Tom will be spending 21 days visiting Rotary Clubs in Arizona, Nevada and California to seek financial support for their project, in conjunction with Project C.U.R.E. The following is the route of their trip. The journey began on November 8, 2017. FACTS ABOUT THIS PROJECT: THE PROBLEM: •      Health care in Mexico is seriously under-funded. •      High quality health care is only available to those who can afford it. •      The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development provides statistics for 34 nations world wide on a vast variety of economic and health care issues. •      Mexico ranks at or near the bottom of most measures when it comes ...

The response to our blog has far exceeded our expectations, as has the enthusiasm of the Rotary Clubs we've visited. We're humbled by the accolades foisted upon us. We've had many inquiries from individuals  about supporting our project. This is something we hadn't even considered when developing this adventure. By the end of this coming week, we will have developed a conduit to accept donations from individuals through the Westminster 7:10 Rotary Club Foundation.  Watch for an addition to this page with the details. For now, 'thank you' to those who believe in our endeavor. We are gratified by your commitment to help us. Tom & Richard

The most welcome attribute of San Diego was the change in our mode of dress. We were able to wear shorts, at last! The weather, while quite chilly in early morning, warmed nicely to the high 70's-low 80's by afternoon. We spent a pleasant evening with Tom's brother, Jerry, and his friend Annette, at Pomodoro's Italian Restaurant. It was good for Tom to catch up on how his brother is doing. They tend to see each other only once a year. Our Sunday was spent on Steel Canyon Golf Course in northeast San Diego. It was quite a hilly course that challenged our well developed, fine tuned golfing skills. On Monday evening, we had dinner with an old friend of Richard's, Alan and friend, Judith. Richard  had not seen Alan in over 25 years. It was a very pleasant evening and there was talk of Alan and Judith coming to Mexico for a visit. The highlight of our time in San Diego was attending a meeting of the Club Rotary Binacional de Coronado. This club, tha...

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving started as a foggy but promising day. The weather in Chico was down to 100 foot ceilings and 1 1/4 mile visibility but as the sun came up it quickly cleared and we were anxious to move on in our journey. Our last minute contact with the East Fresno Rotary Club worked out well. Although they were not having a regular meeting where we could do a formal presentation they were having a more informal "fellowship" type meeting to help celebrate Thanksgiving. We were graciously welcomed and introduced at their meeting and shared some cold cuts and exchanged information about each others clubs and their missions. They agreed to meet with us after the meeting to present our Project. We met with President John Horstman, the Chair of the Internal Outreach Marilyn Behringer and member, Mark. They listen quite attentively and further explained that they had a long tradition of  supporting projects in Bolivia but would consider our requests. Once again...

Monday morning we headed for Chico from Eureka. We had to delay our departure from Eureka because of poor weather conditions in Chico. We finally made the decision to head for Oroville, instead which is down the valley from Chico, and showed better ceiling and visibility. We finally took off about 10:45. We climbed out to about 11,000 feet and found ourselves in clouds and rain. Finally, after about 45 minutes, the Chico weather improved significantly so we diverted to our original destination, Chico. We landed in Chico about 12:30. Soon after, the weather closed in and it rained most of the rest of the day. That evening, we met up with Tom's cousin and her husband and shared a very tasty dinner at the Sierra Nevada Brewery. Our AirBnB was in Durham which just south of Chico. The house is out in the country and surrounded by nut orchards and small farm operations. It was an extremely nice setting. The house was just incredibly livable with many personal touches including a tray wit...

We are now in the town of Eureka, California. The setting on Humboldt Bay is spectacular. The architecture is a mix of late 19th century homes with lots of brick-a-brack trim, steep roof pitches, and nicely matched base colors and trim colors. Of great pride to the people of Eureka is the Carson mansion, a magnificent home near the harbor in downtown Eureka. Historically, Eureka was a center for logging and fishing. With a population in the neighborhood of 30,000 residents, it is quaint and very friendly. Humboldt County has a population approaching 136,000. This area is the home to the Giant Sequoia trees. Yesterday, we were hosted to a delightful lunch at Shamus T-Bones, by Carl Willoughby and Dean Charlton, from the Rotary Club of Southwest Eureka. We enjoyed an informative conversation about Rotary projects in Mexico. Dean was raised in Mexico City and speaks fluent Spanish. Past Mexico projects included an interface with the Puerto Vallarta Sur Rotary Club, which Richard an...

Wednesday, November 15, our intention was to visit the Rotary Club of South Lake Tahoe. However the weather was very marginal for our arrival. In fact, it was both snowing and high gusty winds. This decision was later confirmed by a fellow Rotarian from Lake Tahoe that is also a pilot. We decided that it was more prudent (and smarter) to cancel this stop and go directly to Eureka, CA. The trip was done under Instrument Flight Rules as we were in the clouds almost the entire trip until we reached the Pacific. In general, the trip was uneventful although we picked up a little ice at 13,000 feet. Our headwinds were significant at 30 knots per hour. The trip should have taken an hour and twenty minutes, but it took almost 2 hours. Within 20 minutes of our arrival at Murray Field in Eureka, it began raining and the weather closed in. It looks like our  decision to skip Lake Tahoe was fortuitous. Our first stop, after our car rental, was a visit to the Lost Coast Brewery for a much n...

Another perfect day in Reno Nevada. We attended the noon meeting of the largest club so far. Over 80 members and it looked like most of them attended today's meeting. The meeting was held a very large Casino/Convention venue, only about 15 minutes from our AirBnB "home". This Club has a few assigned greeters that did their job very well and we were greeted with enthusiastic open arms. They start with a delicious buffet lunch of which we took full advantage. We sat a  President Katherine Martin's table that also had their newest member, Chelsea, (1 month) and probably youngest (early 30's). The club  is made up of members that seemed to range in age from mid 40's to 80's (not that anybody is counting). We were not able to do a full presentation for our project but they allowed us 10 minutes and Tom did a great job explaining in only 15 minutes while I took pictures. The members looked very interested in our project and we were quickly asked to meet w...

After a wonderful visit to Tucson we departed for cooler climates. We flew for about 4 1/2 hours to Reno/Stead Airport where we did not get a red carpet greeting. It was a lot cooler and windier here. Actually a little refreshing. During our long journey we had inflight service catered by Subway. The FBO was very accommodating and had our rental car ready to go. We made our way to our AirBNB rental which was only 20 minutes from the airport and settled in quickly. Reno - Midtown is one of the few clubs that has an evening meeting. It was held at the Silver Peak  Restaurant & Brewery. Wow, were we surprised! In fact we were not even sure if this was a real Rotary Club. We did not see even a hint of gray hair. In fact we were the oldest Rotarians at the meeting by at least 30 years. I can't tell you how refreshing it was to meet Rotarians in their 20's 30's and early 40's! What an energetic and enthusiastic group. President Geoff Chapman opened the meeting in h...

Just another beautiful morning in southern Arizona. Clear skies, crisp air, in short a perfect morning for a drive for a 1 hour drive from our base in Tucson to a small rural Arizona community not too far from the Mexican border. We arrived at the Tubac Spa & Golf Resort, where the Club has it's Friday 8:00 AM meetings. This is a small but feisty and very engaged club of men and women who are transplants from many parts of our country. Many live here year round and some are regular snowbirds. We were warmly greeted by Virginia Leavitt and President Duffy Elgart. After the usual Rotary opening activities Tom & I were asked to do our presentation. This was the first time we were able to do a full presentation complete with PowerPoint presentation. We could tell that the members were very engaged in our project. We had many questions at the end and were told that The Board would take up our request for financial support at their next meeting. President Duffy ...

Tucson/Oro Valley  AZ Rotary Meeting Our journey to help raise funds for our project began on Wednesday November 8, 2017.I flew in from Puerto Vallarta and Tom flew in from Denver. We stayed at a fantastic AirBNB semi-attached unit in northern Tucson; it was almost like being at home. Our first presentation was at the Oro Valley (Tucson) Rotary Club on Thursday November 9. The club's meeting location was in a  hospital classroom. The meeting started at a very early 6:45 a.m. Oro Valley is a small but very enthusiastic club that Tom had visited several years ago. We were greeted very warmly, like long lost friends. Our presentation went well and the audience was very engaged with good questions. Their board is considering participation in the project.