By Cecilia Fischer, Project Coordinator, the Keep Loreto Magical Foundation
Saturday, April 18 was the launch day for a beautiful initiative inspired by Tracy Collingridge, a home owner in Loreto Bay Villages who, through her business (Momentum Realty) donated the initial funding for a special food donation program. Being concerned about the extra hardship created by the Covid-19 pandemic, she wanted to help Loretano children with autism whose families are unable to buy good food. It is common for such families to be already stressed financially because of the additional cost of therapies for their children. Also, children with autism often refuse food, so lack of proper nourishment makes them susceptible to colds and flus each winter season.
A boost to local agriculture
The second benefit of this initiative was to channel donated funds from Tracy and, later, many others to 12 ranches in San Javier area. Therefore, by helping Tracy to create a food donation program, our Foundation helped the community to meet two needs: jobs for ranchers of the Sierra La Giganta, and food for families in need in Loreto. If the volume of donations is sufficient, the program will be able to pay the farmers for the full 6 to 10 weeks of the region’s peak harvests and feed the families as they self-isolate. More donations collected after this writing will enable us to feed more families.
Launch day
On Saturday, program volunteers took each family a basket containing half a kilo of peas, 300 grams of sweet peas, Roma (salad) tomatoes, a melon, a large cabbage, 9 different types of chilis, jicama, zucchinis, onions, carrots, Swiss chard, a head of lettuce, green onions, large beets, and oranges—all organic, and all freshly harvested. The number of persons receiving the food was 111. In some homes there were as many as 8 families living under one roof, so this time we went back to give a second basket.
With the families’ permission, we registered those receiving our baskets to also benefit from the fantastic work being done to gather food for Loretanos by Orlando de la Cruz and the Optimists Club and by Pescador Supermarket with the church group Caritas.
Thanks to The Mask Warriors in the Covid19 Preparations team, we were able to supply 111 face masks in the 30 homes we visited (the supply included a special face mask for children).
Our delivery day started at 3 a.m. (for Luis Bastida, the lead farmer) and ended at 11p.m., when we delivered the last basket. Sharing the work were Erik Stevens and Cesar Diaz, who are always there to lend a helping hand no matter what.
Three years of creative cooperation
The movement to grow our food-- in diversity and volume, and bringing together producers and consumers--was done because of your choices as consumers asking for local fresh and pesticide-free food. The Community-supported Agriculture movement was started because home owners Eve Giovenco and Lynda Rutherford of Loreto Bay Village asked in December 2017, “Do you have a CSA here?”
Ricardo Fuerte from Rancho Tiombo and I were very intrigued, and asked to know more. Three growing seasons later, together as a village we have managed to create new jobs because more folks are growing heirloom crops and selling at better prices.
Recent expansion on the local supplier side
The chance to become members in the San Javier CSA has motivated Mexicans to support local farmers with CSA shares because the options for ranch produce are of better quality, and cheaper, than what the franchise stores are selling (or can sell). Jorge Magdaleno, whose work ethic is amazing, has tremendous diversity in his small garden. And I was extremely happy to see vendors from Ciudad Constitucion bring their produce to sell to Loreto at 30 pesos cheaper than our basket. In these times of need, even Loreto’s salaried people can only make ends meet when prices become more affordable.
A personal note of appreciation
Thank you, Loreto Bay villagers and your friends from the north, for helping us build a bridge of support with many strong hands to create resilience for Loreto. I believe that with these actions we teach each other endurance skills that will serve us in any crisis and in doing become a beacon for others to follow. All of this would not be possible but for the quiet, hard-working team members such as Catherine Vaughan, Bob Bailey, Cheng-Hui Wong (and many others). The advisory committee of Keep Loreto Magical --Russ Demers, Catherine Tyrrell and Alex Vandenham – are always there, too, no matter the distance or the challenge -- truly remarkable. Thank you, Mark Spalding from The Ocean Foundation, for teaching us how to build resilience and capacity for this generation and the next generations. Your support and leadership is always there for Loreto.
A seguirle! The work continues!