It has been awhile since I communicated what Linda and I have been doing to try to keep up our commitment to the life of service which you all are exhibiting in your own lives. We have been for a few years now, along with our colleagues the Butchers (who enticed us into this volunteer opportunity), working with a genuine grassroots organization called Corazon, which began several decades ago building houses for and with people in the Colonias of Tijuana and Tecate, Baja, Mexico. The organization has evolved over the years into a full community-building, family-oriented effort and now works in seven, soon to be eight separate communities, with a total of 10 staff, eight of whom are Mexican. In addition to the continued program of house-builds in a day using all volunteers, there is an emphasis on local leadership development, support for education from elementary to college age students (tutoring and scholarships), and several other emerging projects, all aimed at self-sustenance and growing the sense of community.
The staff of Corazon has adopted ToP methods in their entirety and all staff have been to TFM. The executive director would by now be on a path to certification as a ToP trainer if she was not so dedicated to her mission with Corazon. Linda has done most of the follow-up training of staff and mentoring, as well as co-leading with the E.D. a number of trainings. The methods are now being disseminated into the leadership of the seven communities.
My role with Corazon as a volunteer has been providing technical support, specifically helping to set up a computer learning lab. The vision for this is to have computer learning capability in all of the seven or eight community centers. I have been refurbishing donated computer equipment and taking it down to the Tijuana office, where one of the staff who is quite tech-savvy completes the setup and training of users. I have been letting all my friends in my neighborhood know that I welcome their donations of computers, monitors, peripherals, etc, when they are ready to upgrade. I have now taken on the task of locating used laptops, netbooks, tablets, etc. that still have life in them. We are hopeful of beginning to provide a notebook or tablet to be incorporated in the scholarship program to be given to students who qualify through Corazon’s point system (they have to earn their scholarships etc. by putting in tutoring or volunteer hours). I am able to wipe all personal data and programs if necessary, and even try to recover photos, videos, data that may be left, before refurnishing the unit. Any Windows laptop from XP on is OK. Mac notebooks OK, Chromebooks, any kind of tablet, iPad, etc. Unfortunately, I am not able to cover shipping costs. But if you are thinking of moving to a new laptop or tablet and want to donate your old one, and are willing to bear the cost of shipping it to me, I assure you they will be put to good use for a great organization. Education in Mexico is tuition-free at the elementary to about 8th grade level, but it still costs a grade school student about $200 a year, $700 for middle school, more for high school and college of course. Students may have cell phones, but they are in need of working computers to do their homework and other school projects. If you can help out it will be most appreciated.
If you would like to learn more about Corazon, the organization and its programs, please go to the following link:
http://www.corazon.org/en/
Thanks for your consideration!
Milan Hamilton
Aka Mellowmilan
80 North Center Street
Redlands, CA 92373
909-735-5163 (H)
909-556-5815 (M)