April 01, 2006
Our Bear Cares in Mexico
Ciudad de los Niños y Niñ Orphanage was founded in 1952 by Father Zelndo Marigo. The children living there range in age from 6-18 and are not only orphans, but also children in need. The staff at the orphanage consists of a psychologist, a social worker, three nuns, one father and two helpers. The orphanage, though simple, is kept clean and tidy.
Over the past few years, Cruise West Captain Dave Yurina has been 
deeply commited to raising money for this Orphanage through our program of selling memorable cruise photographs on CDs, throughout the season, averaging 30 CD's sold each trip.
On Friday, March 24th with the help of our ship's agents Lyn & Arturo Musi, Father Fernando Quezada Cobarrubias, who has been with the Orphanage for 14 years, brought four boys between the ages of 5-9 to the Spirit of Endeavour. The boys were greeted with milk and cookies (they loved Chef Irv's cookies) and they were given a tour of the vessel. Their eyes lit up around every turn, especially in the Bridge! They returned to the Lounge and the event began.
Captain Mike Fleming gave a very heartfelt speech as he presented the Father with a check in the amount of $7, 400, representing monies raised from the CD sales plus an extremely generous donation 
on behalf of one of our guests who wishes to remain anonymous. Paulino Perez, a Cruise West Exploration Leader, translated for the benefit of the Father and children. He then introduced Captain David Yurina, who, though on leave, came specifically for the event.
Then both the Father and Arturo expressed their sincere gratitude and mentioned that the money raised by Cruise West was going to be an enormous help in building a small chapel for the Orphanage. At that point many of our guests were in tears and very moved by the whole event. OUR BEAR really does CARE!
Gail Manahan is our Editor and a passionate member of the Our Bear Cares Committee. In the weeks to come, we'll be sharing more details about the Our Bear Cares program and the ways that we give back to the areas we visit.
Posted by Gail on April 1, 2006 10:54 AM
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