Tag Archives: Mexico

FOB Year End Fundraiser Kicks Off

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Hello dear friends,
Since we last spoke, our efforts in the tiny Mexican town of Barrón have continued.  With your generous past donations much has been accomplished!  Let us bring you up to speed.
Last year we reached our fundraising goals and kept the medical and dental clinic open throughout the year.  The clinic is now open 5 to 6 days a week and is staffed by a full time nurse, Monica, a medical doctor, Dr. Jesus, three times a week, and a dentist Dr. Javier (who is a Barron native) two days a week.  In addition, individual appointments with a nutritionist and a physical therapist, Oscar, have proven to be quite popular.

(Left to Right) Physical Therapist and Nurse Oscar Rios, Administrator and Nurse Monica Rubi, Doctor Jesus Guerrero

(Left to Right) Doctor Jesus Guerrero, Dentist and Barron native Dr Javier Wiltron, Physical therapist Oscar Rios

The staff sees 40-60 patients a week.  This number surged to 60-80 patients per week over the summer when the Delta variant of COVID ravaged the town, causing the infectivity rate to soar to 40%-60% of the patients tested.  The clinic was able to provide free COVID tests and physician consultations to symptomatic people during this difficult time.  
Now that COVID has ebbed (at least for now), the clinic provides all medical services and a fully stocked pharmacy free to Barron residents.

Thanks to your generous donations, residents of this tiny town were able to access critical medical attention during a truly unprecedented time.  Care was present where normally it would have been completely absent.  Our clinic withstood the latest wave of COVID, on top of all the other ailments out there.

The Nuts and Bolts

  • It costs $2,500 per month to keep the clinic open and free. All the hard ground work has been done: securing the building, hiring the staff, stocking the pharmacy, and building trust within the community.  Now, it is just a matter of paying the monthly bills.   
  • Our goal is to raise $30,000 to cover the day to day expenses, as well as any curveballs the future has in store for us.
  • A generous Anonymous donor has pledged a 100% match as soon as initial donations reach $5,000 and a 50% match of the next $5,000! Please help us take advantage of these exciting challenge grants!
  • The Rotary Club of Fort Collins, Colorado has already pledged $7,500 for the purchase of medical and dental equipment.

The Barron clinic started in 2014 as a week long free clinic, with shower curtains defining the exam rooms in a small town hall. It was staffed by generous volunteers who willingly gave their time and expertise.  Today, it is a fully functioning, integrated asset to this little community, and it has withstood the test of Time. We have helped the citizens of Barron in profound and durable ways.  This could not have occured without your help so I ask you to consider donating again to this effort.

Visit the website https://fobnews.org for details and more pictures.
DONATE BY CHECK:  Please make your check payable to FOB CANAM INC  and mail it to: FOB CANAM INCc/o Richard J McGuire, 18 Oxford Ranch Road, Laramie, WY 82070
VIA PAYPAL: Send your donation to FOB_CANAM@aol.com   Indicate if you want money to go to dental/medical clinic.
VIA VENMO: Send your donation to @fobcanam.  Indicate if you want money to go to the dental/medical clinic.
FOB CANAM is a 501(c)3 charity and donations are tax deductible (EIN 81-4719413).  Tax receipts will be provided for all donations over $250 USD.

I thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,

Bonnie McGuire Wreschner MD

Barron Clinic Founder


Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.

2017 Medical Clinic Concludes

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Left to Right, 1st ROW: Nurses Lourdes Orouno and Eric Jackson, doctors Robert Chang and Alvin Ong, Kris McGuire. ROW 2: Nursing assistants Miriam and Rosa. ROW 3: Nursing assistant Carolina, Nurses Barbara Sowa and Angie Portland, translators Lenny Rebecca Sigwarth Velasquez and Dick McGuire.

The 2017 Friends of Barron free medical clinic has come to close. This year, we treated over 100 adults, mostly the elderly, who were afflicted with both metabolic and orthopedic disease. Two American doctors, three nurses and a translator volunteered their time and paid their own expenses to travel to Mazatlan from the Pacific Northwest, Colorado and Connecticut in order to stage this, the fourth consecutive free medical clinic organized by FOB. Also participating for the first time this year was SAT-sponsored nurse Lourdes Orounó Soto and her team of three Mexican nurses-in-training.

Patients were seen both in the temporary “MASH”-type clinic in the town hall and in the privacy of their own homes if they were not ambulatory. While treatment of acute disease such as rhinitis, influenza and the like were way down, many orthopedic patients from last year’s clinic returned, hoping to benefit once again from pain relieving joint injections. Those suffering from diabetes, hypertension and other chronic disease were offered individual counseling along with expert advice on how to improve their lot.

 

Largest Single Donation This Year Received

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Many thanks to Pat and Doreen Butler of the Universal Golf Foundation AC and the EDM Management for their generous contribution of $50,000 pesos to support scholarships, school construction projects and other FOB activities in Barron. Over the past several years, FOB has been able to count on the generosity of this foundation and the EDM management in furthering its work with the schools and students of Barron as well as helping us sponsor scholarships for the kids of EDM employees who do not live in Barron.

FOB Sponsors Free Dental Clinic

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Claire Silk, a phase one resident and a long-time professional dental hygienist, has organized a free dental clinic for the 250 primary school students in Barron. She has arranged for professional dentisis who are associated of hers to come in the from the United States with all of the equipment and supplies necessary to stage the clinic. The clinic is scheduled for the first week in September 2013. FOB CAN AC is the formal sponsor of the clinic and has assisted with making arrangements with the primary school and will pick up any additional costs for supplies and materials that cannot be acquired through donations. Thanks to Claire and the professional dentists for the generous offer of their time and talents to the kids of Barron.

University Scholarship Program

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In addition to the ongoing FOB CANAM scholarship program to attend preparatory school, we have this year inaugurated a University Scholarship Program. Our goal is to have all of our scholarship students continue on to University. This is being accomplished in two ways; First, some sponsors from the previous years have elected to or are considering continuing their support. The second way is to award two additional scholarships to the university. The following application has been distributed to our graduating class. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to ask.
FOB CANAM AC
R.F.C.: FFO-120202-EK7

Scholarship Program to Attend University
2013-2014 School Year
Description and Program Instructions

Minimum value of each scholarship; $9,000 pesos for the 2013-2014 school Year. Two scholarships available,
Available funds for room & boars and transportation will be available for students attending universities outside of Mazatlan. Additional funding for transportation will be available for student attending universities in Mazatlan but who live outside the city.
The scholarship will be payable to the student. There will be 3 payments of $3000 pesos each; 15 Aug 2013, 15 Dec 2013 y 15 Mar 2014.
Continuation of the scholarships and payments during the school year will depend on attendance and grades of the student during the previous semester. Students have to maintain at least a grade point average of 8.0 and 90% attendance at class.
In order to receive the next scholarship payment, the student will have to present proof of attendance and grades to the scholarship program administrator.
Requirements and Selection of the Winners.
In order to be eligible for a scholarship, the candidate must have at least a grade point average of 8.0 and a 90% attendance record for the classes ending the last semester of preparatory school.
The candidate needs to be accepted and registered full-time at the university (not part-time). The candidate will have to present proof of acceptance from the university they will attend.
The applications are due 1 Jul 2013, mid day. The winners will be notified no later than 15 Jul, 2013.

Click here to review the Scholarship Application

Moving Forward

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FOB CANAM is preparing to distribute applications for next year’s scholarship students. The 2013-2014 school year will see applicants from eligible students from EDM employee families who do not live in Barron as well as the Barron secondary school graduating class. Additionally, we will be offering University scholarships to some of our own graduating seniors who have been in the program for the past three years. This group will be submitting their exit essays next month; they have been asked to rewrite their original application essays so we can see how they have matured and expanded their horizons. We look forward to sharing these with you. Our fund raising efforts so far have met or exceeded our expectations and we look forward to the the continuing support of our extended EDM “family” as well as the most welcome and appreciated donation made by Estrella del Mar (Playa Construction) through its Charity Golf Tournament, staged last January here in paradise!

2012 Annual Report

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The Friends of Barron Annual Report has been published and distributed. You can find it here on the “Annual Report” page (look at the top of the blog site and click on “Annual Report”) or if you prefer old fashioned paper, reports are on all the bulletin boards throughout the EDM complex. Please read them and return them to save paper and ink. If the report is missing from the bulletin board, just let me know and I’ll replace it. Thanks for your support!

Back to School Time!

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The 2012-2013 academic year has begun and our 35 scholarship recipients are busy studying, trying to maintain their grade point average so they might receive their stipend for the first semester. Qualified students will get MXN $2000 pesos on November 15 (the first of three payments) when they present their certified grades to our administrators. FOB CanAm is pleased to announce that we have expanded the scholarship recipient pool to include all EDM employees, both workers and administrators who do not live in Barron. In a special outreach, Kris McGuire spoke before the manager’s meeting in October to announce our expansion and explain the rules. EDM’s HR Administrator Tamara Fraire was our point-person to distribute and receive the completed applications. They were due November 1 and eight applications came in. Of those eight, all were qualified and have been accepted into the program.

Our total number of scholarship students stands at 35. Of those 35, eleven have been adopted by EDM residents and/or friends of EDM residents; eight by our friends and neighbors here and three by non-EDM owners. Please click on the “Adopt-A-Student” tab at the top of this page to review the incoming students and read their heartfelt essays. Twenty-four students still need your personal attention.

Great News!

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Thank you to all of you who attended the Friends of Barron Gala and Silent Auction Friday night. Your donations, purchases, and contribution of volunteer hours made this event a great success. Also, thank you to those people who donated to Friends of Barron but were unable to attend the Gala. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.
We raised 80,000 pesos!!! We hope you enjoyed an evening of good food and entertainment while connecting with your neighbors.
Half of the money will be used for new scholarships for grade nine students attending high school in Mazatlan in the fall of 2012 and the rest of the money will go for the following infrastructure projects:
· · finishing the computer room at the junior high school
· · painting the exterior walls, fixing the roof and buying classroom desks at the elementary school
· · painting the exterior walls, providing shelving for the library and buying classroom furniture at the Kindergarten
· · providing tables and chairs, fixing the bathrooms and painting the “Adult Education” classroom, where 60 adults from Barron are attending evening and weekend classes to learn to read and write.
Thank you one and all.
For more information, please contact DLyster@shaw.ca or check out our website at fobnews.org.