Bulletin

Manos de Ayuda, Inc. has provided therapy and medical services to over 1100 children in Mexico since it began its monthly clinics in 1998. Our volunteer base has continued to grow and volunteers donated over 4500 hours in 2003.

We have been able to arrange many successful surgeries through the Rotary Gift of Life Program, Shriners,
and individual physicians and donors. Each clinic brings us more children with multiple medical and therapy problems.
Each clinic also shows us the effects of our efforts as children and families return to update therapy programs
and to show us the progress their children are making.

The permanent clinic site continues to improve. Electricity is promised before the end of 2004.
We are in need of a transformer to allow us to connect to city power, and we need electricians
to volunteer to complete the installation, once the power is to the site.

The septic tank is in and the site has water. Now, all the clinic needs is a group of volunteers
with plumbing skills to re-plumb the toilets and hook up the water and drains.

Clinic Needs

Here is another area that we need help with. When the children and families are receiving medical services from doctors in Tucson or Phoenix, we need to transport them to appointments, translate during the appointments, and to assist the families with visiting while the children are in the hospital. We also need to develop a list of people who might be able to assist with picking up families in Mexico and transporting them to Tucson or Phoenix. Manos de Ayuda does all of the immigration paperwork in advance, so it is just a matter of making the drive to the border at Lukeville, picking up the family and papers at the immigration office, and delivering them to Ronald MacDonald House or to a host family's home.

If you know of any physicians in Tucson or Phoenix who will see even one child for an assessment, we can arrange to bring the child to their office. We need neurologists, orthopedists, and general practice pediatricians. Once we have a good evaluation, we can then seek services from national and international foundations. Please spread the word

Please spread the word: Manos de Ayuda needs a warehouse/office space in Tucson. If someone donates the space they can receive a tax deduction for the rent as a charitable contribution. We have been swamped with offers of medical, rehabilitation, and other materials and do not have any more space for storage. HELP!!

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Fundraising Projects!

We are continuing our fundraising projects and need lots of help. If you have any free time and want to help with a fun project without the expense of traveling to the clinic, now is your chance. Our other major goal is to strengthen our grant writing efforts. HELP is desperately needed in this area. So thank you again for your support, dedication and caring. The accomplishments of Manos de Ayuda are only possible because of you.

Sincerely, Pam Marquez and all of the members of the board of directors

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