Many Hands Make Light Work

Life has been whirlwind of activity for the San Pedro Branch of the Belize Red Cross over the past few weeks. Our volunteers were kept busy so much that we had to reach out to Project Abroad and use some of their new arrivals who are here volunteering in Belize. In building the capacity of the island, we had our first blood drive of 2016 and are continuing to grow our Ambergris Caye Reserve. Our branch is continuously striving to make Ambergris Caye a safer place and very pleased to have received a donation of 4 CPR Manikins to help us with this ongoing goal. In addition to our regular monthly trivia fundraiser, we had Kelly McGuire and two other bars offer to do events for us.

Think and Drink Trivia

The last Friday of the month is Belize Red Cross trivia night at Crazy Canucks Beach Bar (now Nauti Crab in a new location). The game starts at 7:00 pm and costs $5 a head with maximum 4 to a team – bar owner Rob is quite the comedian. Proceeds totaling $150.00 from the weekly trivia game were donated to Red Cross. Thanks to the winning team Weep, for donating half of their prize money.

Blood Drives

January 30 was the date of the last Blood Drive. Although the number of units was lower than hoped, (due mostly due to another huge event going on that day) every pint helps – we still collected enough to save several lives. The youth volunteers did a great job raising another $300 with the dollar drive. We are pleased to accommodate a Projects Abroad request for an additional Blood Drive outside of our usual 3-month time frame. Come on out to the Medical School today, February 20th to give a little of yourself. Tourists are included and are most welcome… “It’s In You to Give!!” Be sure to get a good rest and eat something nutritious before you donate.

First Aid

Recently I was contacted via my blog by someone wanting to make a donation. I always try to give a choice of an easier to procure lest costly item and one that might be a bit outside people’s box. In answer to what we would like, I replied first aid supplies (easy peasy) or a first aid Mannequin for CPR practice (not overly difficult but possibly higher price than someone might want to spend.) Sheri Dillon from Kalamazoo Michigan chose to gift us with a wonderful set of 4 portable first aid mannequins. Branch Coordinator Shirlee Arnould was more than happy go up to Cocotal Inn to accept them on behalf of our branch. Thanks so much for your generous donation Sheri and wanting to help our work.

Unfortunately, due to being in process of moving I did not make it out to any of the shows. Kelly McGuire’s final concert for the San Pedro Branch of the Belize Red Cross was held February 8 at the Island Time Bar and Grill. The first was at The Dive Bar, then Captain Morgan’s. The San Pedro Branch would like to thank all three locations for hosting Kelly McGuire concerts and for allowing them to raise funds. Between the three venues, Kelly’s fans donated $2504.09 BZD which will go specifically to help fund the Wheelchair Foundation’s unBelizeable fall 2016 wheelchair distribution. This Fall, the Foundation will bring 260 wheelchairs and replacement parts to Belize. Ambergris Caye will receive approximately 20 of those to help needy Belizeans.

Valentines Weekend

There were 2 Red Cross Fundraisers for the Red Cross on Valentine’s weekend. First – Games Day and BBQ  This event was super fun, Coco Loco’s Beach Bar is known for being a great place to socialize and enjoy games. Cribbage, corn hole, giant Jenga, and 3’s were the games of choice for the fundraiser I also brought my hoops for people to play with and to entertain the gamers. Between games and selling BBQ, the total raised $1087.00. Thank you to Carmen Arenal for hosting the event and the Projects Abroad crew for joining us as Red Cross Volunteers for the day.

Second – Request a Song Pam and Jay owners of Stella’s Smile Wine Bar arranged DJ Hoy for the Valentine’s “Request a Song” Fundraiser. Customers picked their songs and Matt played them between 9:00 AM and 12:30 PM. He had a huge song list and thanks to Spotify was able to accommodate almost everyone’s requests. Sunday is always a great sales day for Stella’s Smile with their Crepes and Bottomless mimosas so the Red Cross benefited greatly from the busyness. The song requests and the matching amount from Stella’s totaled $328.00. I did some hula hooping as well and raised another $114 in donations as the Saga Crew came in at the end and made some donations and asked for a show. I was walking back to the bridge with my friend Jack, as we were passing pirates Treasure Restaurant my stack of hoops caught the eye of a few people there so they flagged us down to play and make a donation.

Last Minute Entries

San Pedro Red Cross received donation a $150.00 from Belize Pro Dive. The San Pedro Branch was also able to sell the leftover meat and buns to help defray the costs.