From Gig Harbor to Ayutla: A Little Milagro
 Tacoma News Tribune
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| | Schoolchildren in Ayutla, Mexico, clamor for plastic badges handed out by Pierce County sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer. He was part of a team of 12 South Sounders who enjoyed a boisterous celebration after they drove nearly 3,000 miles to deliver four emergency vehicles to the town. (Drew Perine/The News Tribune) |
From the carnage of a fatal head-on crash two years ago came the inspiration for what turned out to be a little milagro – or miracle – of international generosity.
For nearly a week, The Tacoma News Tribune’s readers followed the adventures in print and online of 12 South Sound Samaritans. A TNT photographer and reporter chronicled their extraordinary 3,000-mile journey from Gig Harbor to Ayutla, a town in the Mexican state of Jalisco.
They arrived to a hero’s welcome Thursday after surviving mechanical problems, a flash flood, violent weather, border glitches, surly federales and the little disagreements that inevitably occur when 14 people travel that far under tough conditions.
But it was all worth it. Their mission was to deliver three police cars and an ambulance to the town of 12,000 where Jose Lopez grew up. Lopez, a bartender at his father’s El Pueblito restaurant in Gig Harbor, had come across a terrible accident while on vacation near Ayutla. Without speedy transportation for medical aid, two adults and a baby died despite desperate efforts by Lopez and his wife.
That tragedy inspired Lopez and a number of friends and restaurant patrons, including former Seattle firefighter Phil Michelsen and Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.
They raised money to buy and refurbish the used ambulance, police cars, a fire truck that will be shipped later by rail, and a lot of firefighting equipment and supplies. They worked with two organizations – Firefighters Crossing Borders and TAPFIRE – that have experience getting surplus and used equipment to countries that need them. And a team of instructors will go to Ayutla next year to train new firefighters.
No doubt lives will be saved in Ayutla because of the efforts of many people in the South Sound area. They’ve participated in an important person-to-person diplomatic mission – and made new friends south of the border.
On the road
Making the 3,000-mile trip to Ayutla: Jose Lopez, Ed Troyer, mechanic Phil Moore, Jeff Anderson, Ron and Sandy Jarvis, Craig and Cathy Hupe, Larry Gow, Don Swensen, Gonzalo Tello, Ed Hague, photographer Drew Perine and reporter Rob Carson. Read the blog entries at www.blogs.thenewstribune.com/crime. |
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