Mazatlan 2003

Rotary at its Best

Wednesday, June 11, 2003, President Elect-elect, Lionel Ruhman and Vice President-elect, Nat Trives boarded Alaska Airlines Flight 220 to Mazatlan, Mexico and found themselves in the midst of 24 Interact students from the San Mateo area, along with Jon & Linda Grant, Wheelchair Foundation, and a delegation of Foster City Rotarians. The flight down was wonderful and their arrival was even better as they were welcomed by Mazatlan Rotarians and an air conditioned double decker bus to transport them to the world class El Cid Marina Hotel. The festivities that evening were all in preparation for some of the most rewarding work Lionel and Nat ever experienced.

Thursday, June 12, 2003, early breakfast, because the bus leaves for the town of El Rosario an hour and one half trip down the highway. The delegation arrived at the City Hall for a formal welcome from the Mayor of El Rosario, then proceeded to the Rotary Club clubhouse where it was greeted by the Mayors from Concordia and Escuinapa. Following lunch the Interact students, along with the American and Mexican Rotarians and DIF drivers were assigned to teams and each team boarded pick up trucks loaded with wheelchairs and proceeded to make home deliveries.

That evening, hosted by the officials and Rotarians from El Rosario, Concordia and Escuinapa, dinner and entertainment was enjoyed by all. After an hour and a half drive back to the hotel, the bed seemed quite inviting to Rotarians and Interact students alike.

Friday, June 13, 2003, the delegation departed by bus from the hotel at 8:30am to downtown Mazatlan to make a humanitarian visit to orphanages, a hospital and other social service institutions to deliver clothing, shoes, toys, medical supplies and wheelchairs. The teams again made direct deliveries of wheel chairs to homes stopping for a lunch break and continuing until around 7:00pm in the evening. After a hard days work everyone was ready for a nice meal and fellowship at one of Mazatlan’s fine beachfront restaurants.

Saturday, June 14, 2003, the group left the hotel in a bus and private automobiles going to a large school campus where hundreds of wheelchairs were going to be distributed to local needy recipients. This ceremony was quite impressive and capped off a remarkable effort of delivering 560 wheelchairs to our Mexican friends in and around Mazatlan. That evening the Mazatlan Rotarians hosted the American Rotarians to a wonderful full-scale Mexican Fiesta at the Playa Mazatlan Hotel.

Sunday, June 15, 2003, farewell to new found friends and a solemn reflection on seeing Rotary at its best. Lionel and Nat returned home much better men for having shared a great Rotary experience.