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Contact UsFor more information about joining us in Mexico, donating mobility equipment, to provide financial support, etc, feel welcome to contact us. We are currently in Mexico, the fastest, most reliable way to contact us is through email. You can also contact us via cell phone, by calling the phone numbers listed below. We look forward to hearing from you, and thank you for your willingness to make a difference in the life of someone with a disability. Richard & Hazuki St. Denis
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what are we doing now? (ongoing updates)
December 10 - 13 Mazatlan We held the Sinaloa Open (Sinaloa Abierto), a national wheelchair tennis tournament with players from areas throughout Mexico. The day before the tournament we held an Up/Down tournament, where someone standing Up was a doubles partner with someone sitting Down in a wheelchair. The winner of this year's single's event was Tito Bautista from Guadalajara, Mexico. The winners of the double were Alfonso Diaz and Angel Silva. We hope the tennis tournament will continue to grow and eventually become Mexico's International Wheelchair Tennis Tournament.
December 2 - 5 Mazatlan We hosted a wheelchair sports & recreation camp for 20+ people with disabilities from Mazatlan, Culiacan and surrounding areas. The participants learned how to play tennis, soccer, American bootball, baseball, chess, checkers and other activities. We were privileged to have the #1 U.S. wheelchair tennis player (John Becker) join us to help teach tennis.
November 10 - 14 Guadalajara We worked with Hope Haven International to give away more than 150 wheelchairs in four days. Most of the recipients were severely disabled with Cerebral Paralysis. Their parents were blessed to have a wheelchair to help their children get out of the house and be more mobile.
October 10 - 17 Puerto Vallarta We distributed 50 wheelchairs, hosted a one-day sports camp, and took those who received wheelchairs to a dolphin park (Vallarta Adventures) so see a dolphin show and to touch the dolphins. We worked with very impoverished people, who live near a dump located on the outskirts of Puerto, Vallarta.
September Throughout the month we visited government offices throughout the area to share with the newly elected governments what we do. These governments will be in office for the next three years. They go out into their communities and find those who need wheelchairs and other medical equipment. They find those who need ramps and other modifcations to the homes of people with disabilities so we can help make them more accessible. We visited several homes, and were horrified by the living conditions that some people with disabilities have to deal with. The home of one person had only one bed, and no other furniture. No bathroom, no sink, no nothing! We are challenged to improve the quality of these people's lives. With the help and love of God, we can make a difference.
August We hosted a five day sports camp for 14 athletes who use wheelchairs. We taught baskeball, tennis, soccer, and other sports. Each day they participated in excercise training and development. They learned how to do artistic metal work, studied the bible, learned how to play the guitar and piano and other activities. Four people participated in the camp for the first time. Several returned from previous years. It is a huge blessing to watch those with experience and confidence to teach those with new injuries. On the last day of the camp five of the participants committed their lives to God!
July We worked with Mission Mazahua, located in the Northwest corner of the state of Mexico, 30 minutes from the state of Michoacan. Working with two American teams - one from from Houston, Texas and another from Mariposa, California, donating more than 90 wheelchairs, crutches, walkes and canes. Each wheelchair was individually given to those who received them. The teams also built 4 walkways and ramps to make two homes more accessible to those who received wheelchairs.
June We have been in Mexico for a week. A lot has happened. We left Tucson last Thursday, stopped in Culiacan to have a meeting about the December sports camp. We spent five days in Mazatlan meeting the new director of the hotel where we will also be hosting a sports camp in December,. We talked with DIF (government Social Services), and worked with PushInternational giving away wheelchairs. We drove to Puerta Vallarta for one night to coordinate the Fall distribution of the 40 wheelchairs we shipped there. We also spent days in Guadalajara working in the bi-lingual Christian school where Hazuki and I were teachers.
Upcoming Events -
Holidays Richard & Hazuki will be spending the holidays in Japan visiting Hazuki's family, with plans to speak to some organizations, and meet with other non-profit groups who work with people who have disabilities.
January - March We will be traveling to various locations throughout the U.S. to hold 'Awareness-Raisers', where friends invite others to their homes to learn more about what we do, the need for wheelchairs in Mexico, and inviting people to volunteer with us.
April - We will be returning to Mexico
July & August 2010 Teams from the U.S. will be joining us in Mexico to help donate wheelchairs, make homes more accessible, and teach sports. Please contact us if you're interested in forming a team or joining a team. The summer trips are seven days, Saturday - Saturday, and you can fly into Mexico City or Toluca, Mexico depending on where you're coming from.
WISH LIST -
Trailer - We are looking for a trailer to haul 30-40 wheelchairs, on a regular basis, from Mazatlan to our area (10 hour drive). The size we need is approximately 5' x 10' (with sides, or possibly enclosed). Presently the wheelchairs we receive from the U.S. are shipped to Mazatlan by container and dropped off there. We're looking for a reasonably priced method of shipping the wheelchairs from the drop-off site to our area. Also, frequently we travel with 5-12 people in wheelchairs to put on sports exhibitions, and demonstrations throughout Mexico. If we had a trailer we could put all thw wheelchairs and other equipment in the trailer, and use less vehicles and less fuel. Presently $1,000.00 has been donated toward the approximate cost of $2,200.00.
