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Sharp declines in cross-border giving
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/apr/13/sharp-declines-cr...
By Sandra Dibble
April 13, 2012
TIJUANA — Fear of crossing into Mexico and tight economic times have led to sharp declines in cross-border giving, cutting into the budgets of many
charities operating in Baja California and other parts of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Students, church groups and service clubs from the United States have continued to come to Tijuana, but their numbers have fallen dramatically during
the past five years. As a result, less housing for the poor is being built, many orphanages are struggling financially and fewer Americans are finding
their way to neighborhoods far off the beaten tourist track.
“Every nonprofit that we support in Tijuana has been impacted in some way,” said Richard Kiy, president of the National City-based International
Community Foundation, where 75 percent of donations are channeled to projects in Mexico. While the drop also has affected groups working in other
parts of Mexico, Kiy said “the border is the area that has been the most severely impacted.”
Without a border-wide survey, no one has precise figures on the drop in monetary support. The San Diego-based U.S.-Mexico Border Philanthropy
Partnership is participating in a binational study to quantify and map giving in the border region.
“People are telling us that donors are not crossing,” said Andy Carey, executive director of the partnership, made up of more than 80 member
organizations in the United States and Mexico. “There’s something about seeing and touching the project that doesn’t happen. If you can’t see it, you
can’t touch it, you can’t live it, you don’t fund it.”
At Door of Faith Orphanage in La Mision, administrator D.J. Schuetze said, “You’d be hard-pressed to find a home that hasn’t seen a drop in
(volunteer) groups.”
For his orphanage, which currently cares for 117 children, the biggest decline has been in short-term U.S. visitors such as surfers or families down
for the weekend who would swing by with donations of food, cleaning supplies, diapers and other goods. “We’ve taken a real hit in that area” since
2008, Schuetze said, as donations of “ongoing consumable items have all but dried up.”
Schuetze and others who do charity work in Mexico said erroneous perceptions of violence have been the key factor driving down U.S. visits, though he
lists other causes such as the overall economy, changes in passport laws and congestion at the border crossings.
“Yes, the children suffer here,” he said. “But across the board, the groups that aren’t coming because of the perceived fears are the ones that are
losing out. People are missing on the incredible experience of serving so close to home.”
Elisa Sabatini, executive director of Chula Vista-based Via International (formerly Los Nińos), which hosts groups performing community service in the
border region, also has felt the impact.
“Our giving for our activities in Mexico is half of what it was. Foundations that used to give you $50,000, this year they give you $25,000,” she
said. “I don’t know if it’s a response to Mexico or just less to go around in general.”
The International Community Foundation’s figures show a clear drop in border giving — in absolute numbers and as a portion of total giving. The high
point was in 2004, with $1.3 million that made up 51 percent of the foundation’s total donations. By 2007, the figure had fallen to $269,000, about 8
percent of the total. After rising to 18 percent of the total in 2009, it fell back last year to 8 percent of a total $4.6 million.
“We used to do an annual border trip of San Diego grant makers,” said Kiy, the foundation’s president. “That’s not happening. People don’t want to
cross the border, people don’t want to cross to Tijuana.”
Many school groups fit in that category, including those from San Diego State University. Since 2010, SDSU has been banned — like other campuses in
the California State University system — from carrying out study and research projects in Tijuana.
“It’s not the school coordinators, they’re ready to go,” Sabatini said. “It’s their risk managers.”
House-building groups are among those most profoundly affected, because volunteers’ trip fees help pay for their construction materials and
administrative costs. At Esperanza International in Tjuana, which once worked with 2,000 volunteers a year but now sees fewer than 800, longtime
executive director Josefina Pataky resigned this year because the group couldn’t afford her salary. She has stayed on as a volunteer.
While many Americans have stayed away from Baja California, a core has remained committed to the region. Miguel Aldrete, an engineer who lives in
Chula Vista, has helped raise $45,000 since 2008 to benefit child cancer patients at Tijuana’s General Hospital.
“I can go down to the place where I’m donating and see the fruits of the donations and the work that we’re doing,” said Alredete, who channels
contributions through the Legacy 4 Life Fund at the International Community Foundation.
At San Ysidro-based Amor Ministries, “We feel fortunate that our numbers are as good as they are, for what we’ve gone through,” said Gayla Congdon,
founder and chief spiritual officer for Amor, which has been working in Mexico since 1980. In 2005-2006, the organization counted more than 20,000
volunteers. This year, it is expecting 9,600.
Among those are 98 members — 68 high school students and 30 adults — of Chapel Hill Church Presbyterian in Gig Harbor (outside Tacoma, Wash.) who
built houses in Ejido Ojo de Agua in eastern Tijuana in February.
“Every year we ask, ‘Is it safe?’ We probably asked that question less this year than we have in the past,” said Brad Scandrett, the church’s high
school director. “It’s probably more dangerous to cross the Narrows bridge from Gig Harbor to Tacoma than it is to come here.”
Katelynn Hamilton, a 15-year-old high school freshman and member of the Chapel Hill group, said she was apprehensive about visiting Tijuana. But after
four days of doing volunteer work in one of the city’s most remote and impoverished pockets, she was loathe to leave her Mexican friends.
“The little kids are so great, they’re so nice and friendly, and so fun and so sweet,” Katelynn said as she wound down a recent visit to Ejido Rojo
Gomez in eastern Tijuana. “It’s crazy to think they have so little and take nothing for granted.”
For volunteers reluctant to visit, Amor and other host charities have been offering alternatives. Since 2010, Amor has offered volunteer opportunities
on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona. Esperanza International has started hosting volunteers in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.
Via International has expanded to Guatemala and New Mexico, while continuing to offer trips to Mexicali and Tijuana. And for study groups and
volunteers who simply can’t or won’t go to Mexico, it provides border learning experiences that take place entirely in San Diego.
“I think we’ve all had to make adjustments,” said Congdon of Amor Ministries.
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaNews
“People are telling us that donors are not crossing,” |
What a shame, but when doners try to cross with goods for the needy, they're turned back.
Remember the Hurricane Relief efforts?
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thebajarunner
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Very true, Dennis
The 14 acre fruit orchard that we helped propagate at Rancho Santa Marta in San Vicente has dwindled down to about half.
The Burchell Nursery in Oakdale has consistently provided excellent fruit trees for them, mainly through the Modesto Rotary Club, but in recent years
it gets harder and harder to get these trees past the border.
Very sad, because we have developed some really good varieties of fruit that are ideal for the climate.
We have tried to focus more on citrus, but the water use for citrus is somewhat beyond what they are allowed to pump due to government restrictions on
water use.
(I do not suppose that LA Cetto- just south of the ranch, has any restrictions on their thousands of acres of vines.... just a guess)
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by thebajarunner
(I do not suppose that LA Cetto- just south of the ranch, has any restrictions on their thousands of acres of vines.... just a guess)
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Just a point of interest, Dick....yesterday KPBS from San Diego was doing a travel show in Guadalupe Valley, and the host was interviewing the
Bibayoff patriarch in one of his vineyards. He said they don't water, but rely on the atmosphere....fog and dew, I guess....to sustain his vines and
grapes.
I still have trouble fully believing that could be the case, so maybe I misunderstood what he said.....although his English is better than mine.
If this morphs into a wine thread, I apologize in advance.
.
[Edited on 4-15-2012 by DENNIS]
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sancho
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Yrs. back , I went with a Church Group called Corazon
I think they are here in Orange Co., not that I was
a member, just that I owned a hammer. Went to TJ,
they pick a needy family and put up a one room
structure on phone poles. Not to sound too corney
but to see the Mex womans response to the place
she would call home was touching
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thebajarunner
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Corazon de lvida
| Quote: | Originally posted by sancho
Yrs. back , I went with a Church Group called Corazon
I think they are here in Orange Co., not that I was
a member, just that I owned a hammer. Went to TJ,
they pick a needy family and put up a one room
structure on phone poles. Not to sound too corney
but to see the Mex womans response to the place
she would call home was touching |
Started by Hilda Pacheco, who was raised at the Door of Faith Orphanage in La Mision.
She has a burning desire to "give back" and she is doing a sensational job.
I think they support a couple dozen orphanages and take monthly tours like you did.
And, her brother Juan was raised with our family up her in NOB.
http://www.corazondevida.org/
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thebajarunner
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Not likely
| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
| Quote: | Originally posted by thebajarunner
(I do not suppose that LA Cetto- just south of the ranch, has any restrictions on their thousands of acres of vines.... just a guess)
|
Just a point of interest, Dick....yesterday KPBS from San Diego was doing a travel show in Guadalupe Valley, and the host was interviewing the
Bibayoff patriarch in one of his vineyards. He said they don't water, but rely on the atmosphere....fog and dew, I guess....to sustain his vines and
grapes.
I still have trouble fully believing that could be the case, so maybe I misunderstood what he said.....although his English is better than mine.
If this morphs into a wine thread, I apologize in advance.
.
[Edited on 4-15-2012 by DENNIS] |
Interesting post, Dennis,
Not very likely that either the Guadalupe or the San Vicente area could sustain (and invigorate) vines or trees.
If that were the case, I suppose, then all the hills around would be bright green year round, and major vegetation, even native trees, would abound,
and nothing around there looks verdant to my eye.
I do know that Bill Lawrence, who runs Rancho Santa Marta, has trouble sustaining a winter wheat crop many years when it does not give lots of winter
rain, and likely the summers would burn up all the plantings....
Just my thoughts.
I see Bob Gallo on a regular basis (my wife cuts his hair) and next time here I will ask him.
Gallo farms substantial acreage in Napa/Sonoma, which is somewhat similar to the areas in question (albeit 500 miles further North)
D
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mes1952
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I think it has more to do with the CRAPPY ECONOMY IN SAN DIEGO than fear. Most of us who are still working in the U.S. can't work more than 18 hours
a week and this seems to be the new norm for U.S. workers. A report says most of the new jobs created are crappy low paying service jobs without
healthcare and/or benefits so people like me don't have extra $$$ to give to charities on either side.
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mes1952
I think it has more to do with the CRAPPY ECONOMY IN SAN DIEGO than fear. Most of us who are still working in the U.S. can't work more than 18 hours
a week and this seems to be the new norm for U.S. workers. A report says most of the new jobs created are crappy low paying service jobs without
healthcare and/or benefits so people like me don't have extra $$$ to give to charities on either side. |
You're right mes-man, but your economy hasn't much to do with this conversation.
I'm sorry your having tough times, and do understand that we're all having those.
That said...this is about taking goods across the border to needy people.
Nothing more.
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rts551
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You can cross the border. You just need to pay the Aduana. Sometimes if you declare items that are obviously for donation (and not for sale) they
will let you skate.
There is a guy in El Rosario that made his living bringing "donated" items across the border and then selling them at the roadside segundas in
Ensenada and San Quintin. These are the people that ruin it for everyone else
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durrelllrobert
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
Remember the Hurricane Relief efforts? |
Not just going into Mexico. After Katrina my brother and his church
group loaded a tractor trailer full of relief supplies in Huston and drove to New Orleans. The FEMA authorities stopped them before they got there
and told them they wern't allowed in because they wern't on the APPROVED diaster aide list.
Bob Durrell
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DENNIS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by rts551
You can cross the border. You just need to pay the Aduana. Sometimes if you declare items that are obviously for donation (and not for sale) they
will let you skate.
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"Sometimes," shiiiit, Ralph. If I have to pay a chickenchit government agency just for the ability to do what's good and helpful, I won't.
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durrelllrobert
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
| Quote: | Originally posted by thebajarunner
(I do not suppose that LA Cetto- just south of the ranch, has any restrictions on their thousands of acres of vines.... just a guess)
|
He said they don't water, but rely on the atmosphere....fog and dew, I guess....to sustain his vines and grapes.
I still have trouble fully believing that could be the case, so maybe I misunderstood what he said.....although his English is better than mine.
If this morphs into a wine thread, I apologize in advance.
.
[Edited on 4-15-2012 by DENNIS] |
Many vineyards in the fog areas of the Napa Valley are going back to dry vineyards. All of Napa was dry farmed until the 1960s when overhead
irrigation was introduced, although overhead was primarily a frost control device. A primitive form of drip irrigation was first seen in the early
1970s, but prior to that, the vines got whatever nature delivered. So, the wines that formed the classic Napa Cabernets--Inglenook, Beaulieu, Louis
Martini and a handful of others--were from dry farmed vineyards.
www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?section=features&cont...
Purists may argue that the only true reflection of a vintage is one that results in entirely ‘natural’ wines being produced – that is, wines that are
entirely dependent upon the graces of mother nature. That notion is correct, except that in the case of irrigation, its scientific application is
necessary in order to maximise the stress of a plant and in many cases to keep it alive.
www.cambrianshiraz.com/vineyard.html
Bob Durrell
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rts551
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
| Quote: | Originally posted by rts551
You can cross the border. You just need to pay the Aduana. Sometimes if you declare items that are obviously for donation (and not for sale) they
will let you skate.
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"Sometimes," shiiiit, Ralph. If I have to pay a chicken-chit government agency just for the ability to do what's good and helpful, I won't.
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wull, Dennis, you can always do like a lot of others on this board do. hide it, put some dirt on it, or wull, Cheat....
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thebajarunner
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San Vicente/Guadalupe ain't Napa!!
| Quote: | Originally posted by durrelllrobert
| Quote: | Originally posted by DENNIS
| Quote: | Originally posted by thebajarunner
(I do not suppose that LA Cetto- just south of the ranch, has any restrictions on their thousands of acres of vines.... just a guess)
|
He said they don't water, but rely on the atmosphere....fog and dew, I guess....to sustain his vines and grapes.
I still have trouble fully believing that could be the case, so maybe I misunderstood what he said.....although his English is better than mine.
If this morphs into a wine thread, I apologize in advance.
.
[Edited on 4-15-2012 by DENNIS] |
Many vineyards in the fog areas of the Napa Valley are going back to dry vineyards. All of Napa was dry farmed until the 1960s when overhead
irrigation was introduced, although overhead was primarily a frost control device. A primitive form of drip irrigation was first seen in the early
1970s, but prior to that, the vines got whatever nature delivered. So, the wines that formed the classic Napa Cabernets--Inglenook, Beaulieu, Louis
Martini and a handful of others--were from dry farmed vineyards.
www.winesandvines.com/template.cfm?section=features&cont...
Purists may argue that the only true reflection of a vintage is one that results in entirely ‘natural’ wines being produced – that is, wines that are
entirely dependent upon the graces of mother nature. That notion is correct, except that in the case of irrigation, its scientific application is
necessary in order to maximise the stress of a plant and in many cases to keep it alive.
www.cambrianshiraz.com/vineyard.html |
Like I said earlier, I don't know about "no-irrigation" but I can assure you, having spent a lot of time in both areas, that Guadalupe is no
comparison to Napa Valley, and San Vicente is surely not in any kind of 'fog belt'
Just my added two bits worth.
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mcfez
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They call it "dry farming," which is what agriculture used to be before plastic hoses hooked up to a water supply made deserts bloom. A few vintners
are returning to it. Farming dry means more than just not irrigating.........it's an active form of preserving moisture in the ground so you don't
need to irrigate.
Wine grapes are grown without artificial irrigation in parts of the world such as Spain and France....... where some regions have laws forbidding use
of irrigation. It's a interesting concept.......my brother does dry farming with tomatoes up in the Ft Bragg area.
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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BajaNomad
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"...the Dragoos get all of the grapes for their wines from Guadalupe Valley in Baja, Mexico.... In addition to growing organically, the Dragoos dry
farm their vineyards to force the grapes to go deep into the soil. 'Some vines are over 60 feet into the ground,' Mick says, explaining that while dry
farming lowers the yield, it keeps the grapes from picking up salts and minerals on the upper layers of earth."
http://www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/April-2007/...
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
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We know we must go back if we live, and we don`t know why.
– John Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez
https://www.regionalinternet.com
Affordable Domain Name Registration/Management & cPanel Web Hosting - since 1999 |
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DianaT
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| Quote: | Originally posted by rts551
You can cross the border. You just need to pay the Aduana. Sometimes if you declare items that are obviously for donation (and not for sale) they
will let you skate.
There is a guy in El Rosario that made his living bringing "donated" items across the border and then selling them at the roadside segundas in
Ensenada and San Quintin. These are the people that ruin it for everyone else |
And he was not a Mexican, correct? Or am I thinking about another person from El Rosario who was in the second hand market business???
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rts551
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| Quote: | Originally posted by DianaT
| Quote: | Originally posted by rts551
You can cross the border. You just need to pay the Aduana. Sometimes if you declare items that are obviously for donation (and not for sale) they
will let you skate.
There is a guy in El Rosario that made his living bringing "donated" items across the border and then selling them at the roadside segundas in
Ensenada and San Quintin. These are the people that ruin it for everyone else |
And he was not a Mexican, correct? Or am I thinking about another person from El Rosario who was in the second hand market business???
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No. not a Mexican. and he was proud of it.
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