In 2000 the Baja Gifts Program started with a few of us donating money and gifts to schools and families in the southern Baja area where we visit on our expeditions. We had mentioned what we were doing to a few of the teachers participating in the Panterra expeditions in 2001 and they were inspired enough to get their classes involved. The response was incredible!
Since then and on most of our trips now, Panterra participants fill a shoe box with gifts such as toiletries (toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, soap), school supplies (pens, pencils, rulers, notebooks, binders, binder paper) and toys. The shoe boxes are brought down on the trip and distributed to various schools and communities the group visits.
The Baja Gifts Program has grown from a few of us donating money to the donation of suitcases upon suitcases of clothing and supplies. Each year we donate a few hundred gift bags, blankets, suitcases of clothing and extensive First Aid Kits to isolated communities in the islands and on the peninsula. The Baja Gift Program has been extremely successful. It is amazing when such small gestures can mean the world to the recipients of the gifts.
HOW DO YOU GET INVOLVED?
Your group or as an individual can collect the following items to donate:
Westjet, Panterra’s airline of choice, allows each guest to check in one cost-free humanitarian bag. The suitcases of supplies will then be donated during your trip to local communities and/or schools.
Over the years we have built a school, built a medical clinic, rebuilt a woman’s home that had burned down, ran hoses from wells to the elderly part of the communities, help plant community gardens and in 2017 our goal is to work with the women in the communities to develop a compost system to provide fertilizer for their gardens. It is amazing how such little can go so far!
You don’t have to go on one of our trips to be a participant in the gifts program. We will kindly accept your donations and distribute it on your behalf, taking pictures and recording who the recipients were. We have schools, families and individuals participating in the program. Monetary donations can be made online.
If you have a family doctor or dentist that would like to contribute first aid and dental hygiene products the donations will be delivered to the many communities we visit or to people that we hear are in need of the supplies.
Our Journey of Giving Medical / Dental Expedition was designed out of the goodness of the Baja Gifts Program!
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GET INVOLVED WITH THE BAJA GIFTS PROGRAM OR WOULD LIKE MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT THE PANTERRA OFFICE AT INFO@PANTERRA.COM OR PHONE US AT 1-800-665-6639.
For those of you who have participated in the program, THANK YOU from the depths of our hearts for taking the time to make a difference in the lives of the children, their families and the communities in Baja California Sur, Mexico. To see our most recent endeavor in the Baja Gifts Program, please visit the Panterra Facebook Page.
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