I was going to have to go back to their website to find it.
You saved me the trouble - And let others who might be interested in helping how to do so!
It's they type of grass roots effort that I am fond of... people helping people. Not because they were told to do so, but because they should. 100% of the donated monies are used to buy supplies for Majahual, and are then driven there and distributed by the lady in the picture.
Relief effort for Mahahual by Playa Del Carmen residents
From: Michael Hopson <mike at hotinplaya.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 00:12:35 -0500
Title: Relief effort for Mahahual by Playa Del Carmen residentsA group of volunteers from Playa Del Carmen have a relief effort on going for Mahahual, led by Cheri, she has organized two relief convoys from volunteers and contributions .
This is a copy of a posting after their 1st trip a few days ago, they made a much larger trip today and plan on more relief efforts
You can follow this effort here, with the 1st pictures from the town
And more importantly, please contribute to the effort thru the PayPal links
This town was the bulls eye for the 3rd strongest storm on record!
Tony, Cheri, Claudia and I have just now returned to Playa after a long and tiring day. In addition to the 4 of us, there were 6 or 7 other volunteers, and a total of 5 vehicles convoying down south to Majahual to bring the donated supplies we’d collected in the last day to give to those hit hardest by Hurricane Dean. This was not an official Red Cross visit; while Claudia volunteers for them, this was a mission from her heart arranged to immediately get supplies to those who most needed them. She will report her findings and photographs of the damage to the Red Cross tonight, who will hopefully be assisting with relief efforts very soon.
Since Majahual is such a long drive from us (I think it took us around 3 or so hours, maybe more), we didn’t see any hurricane damage for a long time, so I don’t think any of us were truly prepared for what we saw when we arrived. They could not have been hit harder. None of us had ever seen Majahual before, sadly, so we had nothing to compare to, but it wasn’t difficult to see that this town looks RADICALLY different from the way it looked just 3 days ago. The people there have lost everything. Their homes, their clothes, furniture, their businesses…everything.
Still, the town was a hive of activity. The Army was busy cleaning up trees and clearing the streets and all the locals buzzed around cleaning up debris and clearing the land. We set up “camp” in a couple of locations and started dividing up the donations we had, non-perishable food items, drinking water, clothing, candles, and more. Our plan was to get what we had to the people immediately, assess what else was needed, and return to Majahual this Saturday to bring more supplies.
Despite all of this incredible destruction, no one was sitting and weeping. No one was bitter or complaining. When the people of the town gathered around us to receive the donations, they were not grasping or taking more than they needed for a day or two. They carefully chose items of clothing and suggested to others around them items that would suit their needs. One man came to ask Cheri if he could please have one t-shirt, as he had been wearing the same one for 4 days. If I say any more about this right now, I’m going to cry and I have to get this finished tonight.
So much more is needed. We saw people filling up bottles of water from a stagnant swamp. We didn’t have enough supplies for everyone. Tomorrow, Tony and Cheri will use the money that has been donated to buy as many needed items as they can. Beans, rice, tortillas, water, etc.
Please, if you can give even one dollar to help, your generosity will be put to such good purpose. Every single penny of your donations will go DIRECTLY into the lives of the people of Majuhual and the surrounding villages. We are paying for ALL of our own expenses, including gasoline and our own food and water. There is absolutely NO overhead.
To donate money via paypal, go to www.paypal.com and click on the "send money" tab.
The paypal email account to use is:
helpthechicas at lunabluehotel.com (We are using the same paypal account we used for Alex & Mayte's accident, since it's already set up).
We are going back to Majahual on Saturday with as many supplies and volunteers as we can get. If you have any donations, monetary or otherwise, please bring them to Luna Blue tomorrow, Friday, August 24 (Calle 26 between 5th and 10th avenues).
Needed items include:
- Roofing material, cardboard, triple, construction material
- Water, juice
- Non perishable food
- Medicines
- Clothes and shoes in good shape
- Blankets, mattresses and pillows
- Diapers and baby products
- Powdered milk
- Utensils, shovels, machetes…etc.
We were so lucky here in Playa del Carmen and the Riviera Maya that we received no damage from this devastating storm, but my joy and relief is certainly tempered by the compassion I feel for the unfortunate areas that did.
I don’t think that I will ever be able to convey to you what I saw today or how it has moved me. I will leave the photographs to tell Majahual’s sad story (and these are just a handful of the photographs, we will post more tomorrow).
For those following the blog about the private relief effort by the owners of the Luna Blue ub Playa del Carmen to Majahual, there's a new entry now detailing their second trip there, loaded down with supplies, and what they found when they got there:
They have now received over $10,000 in donations, which has gone 100% to their relief effort. (They were the FIRST ones to make it to Majahual after Dean... FOUR DAYS after he hit.)
Costa Maya will come back with the help of the cruiselines... the people in Majahual (and some other nearby villages) have lost virtually everything except what they had when they evacuated.
I am thoroughly annoyed that Cruz Roja is asking for donations but they haven't even made it down to Mahahual yet. The military is obviously not able to do this on their own, and if it weren't for individuals, no diapers would be in Mahajual today.
If they can't do something themselves, they need to call the International Red Cross before people start dying.
THIS is now posted o THEIR webstite, in the comments section of Toni & Cheri's blog for helping Majahual:
Just to let you know, we have posted a ’sticky’ thread in the Costa Maya forum of www.cruiselinefans.com . The thread is called “Helping Majahual (devastated by Dean)”
We are following your efforts and posting excerpts there (hope that’s ok!), along with links, and directions for donating. Hopefully, this will generate some responses - and funds!
Some of our members have reported spending a wonderful day at Majahual and spoken warmly of the people they met there . . . Hopefully, some will want to help you buy your next load of supplies! And I promise to follow up my first donation with another when resources permit. Though mine are small, I know that many small ones together can make a big difference!
Thank you for your efforts!
Sheila
I can't really fault the Red Cross. I know there are restrictions on International efforts and even on local ones. That is why often private citizens are the best. I think that you can get more bang for your buck and certainly do get much more, in this specific instance. I also understand that there are people that only want to give money to a charity they recognize and not to private citizens. I'm also ok with that.
On a different note, I saw where someone involved in the relief effort had posted a thank you note on a certain cruise board to remain nameless, but they are owned by tripadvisor. That thank you note thread seems to have been nuked.
I am grateful Cruiselinefans is not so narrow minded and that they are truly interested and take an active role in doing the right thing.
Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers
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Centrum Deck
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Cruise Places
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Costa Maya
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Helping MAJAHUAL (devistated by DEAN)
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I feel better now, though my donation is a small one.
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