originally posted on BajaNomads 9-16-2009 at 05:18 PM (EngineerMike)   Folks- Donations thru Mulege Student Scholarship Program are above $8,000 thanks to generous Nomads, and lots of you. I distributed the first $1,500 worth in Mulege a couple days ago (my head is still spinning). We, the Scholarship, will finish out distribution w/the additional info I gathered; see the Jimena thread under Baja News for more. Now I believe is time to switch to funding the largest possible money pool we can assist in accommodating thru Rotary. Posada-Bush Pilot, Randy Kephart, is the current President, and has a goal of $50,000. We have talked in very preliminary terms about how this money could/should be used. I have suggested long term roof repairs for elderly who have a hard time paying for and organizing that type of work, but that is only a suggestion to get the dialogue going, and I hope to see lots of further suggestions and discussion. If we could raise ten times the goal, it could be put to use and still not fix everything and everybody that can't fix their own situation. This will be a fund that will identify and serve serious needs, well considered as to efficiency and outcome, and well organized as Rotary is famous for. In-kind donations are being assembled and being delivered thru several conduits. These address patching short term needs like food, clothing, bed linens, first aid supplies etc., and the Scholarship as well as others who are mobilized will fulfill the charter Nomads and other contributors have ordained. For long term needs: Now is the Time, and Rotary is the Spearpoint!!! I will be sending further PayPal donations to Rotary from this point forward unless instructed otherwise. Please take this situation to your church, civic group, poker pals, local Rotary Club, AA meeting, pagan worship center, Sierra Club, Boy Scouts, scooter club, cocktail lounge, etc. and help Rotary make a heavy duty, long term repair in Mulege. We had a local Lutheran Church group (not the whole congregation mind you, just the Bible study group) call a meeting and pass the hat; the evening before I pulled out to head down for Trip#1 they handed me an envelope with $1,700 cash from that hat, and no more instruction than: "Put it where you believe it will make a difference." If they can do that, we can overstuff Rotary's box and exceed their goal. The more we raise, the more can be fixed for people who do not have the resources to fix it themselves. Now is the Time, and Rotary is the Spearpoint.