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 Vallarta Living | November 2007 
Successful Events and Generous Donations Delight Becas Vallarta
 Polly G. Vicars - PVNN
| | Prominent Vallartenses enjoying Becas Breakfast at Vitea. | 
| | Vallarta Visitors and Becas Supporters Jim and Melba Teter from Florida and Carl Johnson from Illinois enjoy the breakfast. | 
| | Carlos Fregoso selling raffle tickets to member Judy Galeana and friends. | 
| | Cuca de Niño chats with Regional Promotor for Secretary of Human Development for the State of Jalisco. | 
| | Cuca Receives THE CHECK from Regional Coordinator María Guadalupe Salcedo Arechiga. |
Becas Vallarta, A.C. (The America Mexico Foundation, Inc.) has been providing educational scholarships to Puerto Vallarta girls and boys for more than sixty-five years. To maintain this record, a small group of Mexicans, Americans and Canadians who currently make up the Foundation toil endlessly to raise funds necessary for those scholarships.
Private donations, proceeds from the Becas Ball, raffles, the sale of books written and donated by Foundation members and direct solicitation of friends and family have sustained two hundred to three hundred young Vallartenses in school - junior high through university - for the last twenty years.
Prices are constantly rising and the number of students who need scholarships grows, making the raising of adequate funds harder each year. To help alleviate this problem, in October Becas Vallarta inaugurated the first of seven different monthly fund-raising breakfasts at the chic restaurant Vitae on the Malecón extension. It was a rousing success!
Becas Vallarta member Peter Gray put it this way, "Watching the scene, it occurred to me that the instruction to 'Love thy Neighbor' was working here on two levels. Most obviously, this was a group of people that cared and respected each other. The bonds of friendship ran strongly amongst them. At a deeper level, there was the sense of common values and purpose that Becas Vallarta provides. The satisfaction of being part of an altruistic cause that, year after year, has provided scholarships for hundreds of bright but needy kids. It is cooperation at the personal level that grows to finally shape the life of the community."
With Peter's words in mind, join us for the second in the breakfast series at La Hacienda Restaurant, 388 Lazaro Cardenas at Aguacate, on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 9:30 am. You will enjoy a bountiful breakfast, beautifully served in one of Puerto Vallarta's most popular and authentic Mexican restaurants. There will be raffles of great gifts of jewelry, dinners, tequila and more. Tickets are only $150 pesos per person and should be purchased in advance as they will go fast. Contact Buri Gray at 221-5285 (Conchas Chinas Area) or Mariel de Fregoso at 221-0789 (Marina) or Polly Vicars at 223-1371 (Romantic Zone) to get your tickets.
Now to the generous donations! For the fourth consecutive year, Resort Marriott Casa Magna, restaurants Café des Artistes, Xitomates, La Palapa, Vista Grill, Restaurante Azul, y Maximilian feted over 300 attendees at the Palomazo Culinario on October 29, 2007. This evening was billed as "un evento de amigos para los amigos" (an event of friends for friends) and it truly lived up to that motto. The beautifully decorated hall, the gourmet food, musical entertainment and fabulous raffle prizes were all wonderful for us attendees, but the fact that 100% of the proceeds was shared by four of Vallarta's most important charities - all institutions dedicated to providing aid to people who need it most: Agape, Arturo and the Children of God, Asilo de Ancianos San Juan Diego and Becas Vallarta - made that evening one that will continue to make a real difference in the lives of many Vallartenses for some time to come.
Always trying to keep overhead at a minimum, we adopted Past President Mary Ellis' idea to sell small, tasteful ads for each page of our annual newsletter. Production of this year's newsletter was assigned to Linda Wirth and me and accordingly each page was sponsored by a supporting local business. Last week, we were able to put the completed newsletter online and later this week Juan Cortes of Impresiones Finas de La Costa will deliver to us the printed version.
A great big thank you to him for his patience and professionalism and to our advertisers, Cassandra Shaw Jewelry, Melchor Cortes' Spanish School Vallarta, Ed Hutmacher's Santa Barbara Theater, Tom Barrington's The Computer Store, Domenico Lorusso Rizzo's (Mimo) La Piazetta Restaurant, Claire and Joe Guarniere's Galleria Danté, Sam Skidmore's Real Estate, Bob Price's Vallarta Botanical Gardens, Dolores Brittingham's Essence of Cuisine, Mike & Debbie Egan's Banana Cantina, Peyote People Huichol Shop and Biblioteca Los Mangos Public Library, who made it possible to produce this informative and colorful newsletter at almost no cost to Becas Vallarta. The best way to thank our sponsors is for you to patronize those establishments that are so supportive of Becas Vallarta! That's what Husband and I do.
This year, the Secretary of Human Development (Secretaría de Desarrollo Humano) of the Government of the State of Jalisco announced that for the first time they planned to give matching fund grants to foundations in Puerto Vallarta that met all of their rigorous criteria. Our efficient and hard working treasurer and past president Señora Cuca de Niño, with the help of active member Barbara Poindexter, gathered all the pertinent material required and Cuca spent an entire weekend at meetings and seminars learning about the grants.
Last week, after several anxious near misses in receiving the grant money, the call came that a check was waiting at the Region 9 Costa Norte office here in Puerto Vallarta. On November 9, 2007 Regional Coordinator María Guadalupe Salcedo Arechiga and Regional Promoter Juan Antonio Cota Castro proudly presented to Becas Vallarta, A.C. a very substantial check that will go a long way toward keeping all our Juans and Juanitas in school!
You can keep Becas Vallarta, A.C. on this hot roll! Call for your tickets for the November 27th breakfast, mark your calendars for the January 22, 2008 breakfast at the fabulous five star restaurant La Palapa on famous Los Muertos Beach and for the inimitable Becas Ball on Saturday, March 8, 2008 at the renowned Westin Regina Hotel at the Marina and when making your Christmas list this year, remember Becas Vallarta with a generous tax-deductible donation.
For Breakfast Tickets:
Call Buri Gray at 221-5285 (Conchas Chinas Area) or Mariel de Fregoso at 221-0789 (Marina) or Polly Vicars at 223-1371 (Romantic Zone) to get your tickets.
Mail US tax deductible checks made to America Mexico Foundation, Inc. to:
America-Mexico Foundation, Inc.
PMB 078-380
827 Union Pacific
Laredo, TX, USA 78045-9452
Mail Mexico tax deductible checks made to Becas Vallarta, A.C. to:
Becas Vallarta, A.C., Blvd. Fco. Medina Ascencio #2189
Edificio Andrea Mar Loc. 7 & 8,
Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
C.P. 48319
 Polly G. Vicars and her husband of 55 years, Hubert (a.k.a. "Husband") retired to Puerto Vallarta in 1988 and soon became active members of several charitable organizations. Polly is the author of "Tales of Retirement in Paradise: Life in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico" [a sell-out!] and "More Tales of Retirement in Puerto Vallarta and Around the World." Proceeds from the sale of her books go to the America-Mexico Foundation, a scholarship foundation that is their passion.
Click HERE for more articles by Polly Vicars. |
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