The wrap up

Being a newbie here in Mazatlan i could only expect the unexpected. This was by far the best team building experience i have ever encountered. a mixture of time off with the team and hard work provided a great environment to get to know one another.

The locations we vistited were extremely eye opening. being able to put a smile on the childrens faces is something i will never forget, and will be engrained in my mind for years to come. Some of the thing that stick out in my mind are defineltley the dump day and our voayage to the top. the line up for food was endless and the sight of our mobile kitchen was a blessing to all who spend their day sifting through the rubbish. Modero is an uplifting place, despite the living conditions and the quality of life, the kids who call Modero home always have a smile for the team and cant wait for our return. Our visit To stone island may have been the most shoking, as well as the hardest day of work (and i have the scar to prove it). The living condition are undescribable. one thing that will stick out in my mind from that day, is when Lydia told us to only give grocery tickets out to those who need it the most in other words the poorest of the poor. how to you decide who needs it more? you would have to see it too believe it.

I dont think i have ever cooked so much meat in all my life. During our visits to the dump and Modero Ponds and I cooked a total of 600 hamberguesas and 216 hotdogs. Being able to provide a decent meal to those who really need it is a feeling that cant be explained. All in all this has been one of the most memorable experiences of my life both getting to know the team a little bit better and lending a hand to those who need it the most. This is a trip i will always charish and look forward to being a part of for years to come.

On a lighter note i would like to close with a quote taken form daves thank you speech to all of us last night.
"Dont forget that theres a lot of good people in hell"

Tyler

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:13:00 +0000

Sunny D´s point of view

The end is near... we´re flying home tomorrow with our spirits high after another great year in Mazatlan. It´s been amazing to see the same kids we met last year and see the progress that has been made through out the year. Seeing and using the bathroom that we started in Madero last year was awesome.

When we went to Stone Island this year we saw a building where there was just a foundation last year. The progress and growth there is encouraging.

When we went to the dump this year is was a lot less stinky then previous which was nice... this time we didn´t have to cook while gagging from the thick aroma. The garbage pile has growth taller from last year.

One of the coolest things to see was on the last day we went to a new building at the dump. Ryan Joel and myself went back to Madero where we handed out t-shirts the night previous. When we showed up the kids who got shirts the night before were wearing them and kids who got shirt from years previous were wearing there´s as well so it was cool to the impact and excitment we brought that community this year.

It´ll be amazing to see more growth next year when we come back. I´ve had a blast working with my colleges and getting to know everyone better.

note to self for next year:
bring tanning oil instead of lotion... i´m still white
don´t wear nice shoes when lifting rusty pipes
bring laundry soap to wash white shirts
airconditioning plus sleeping equals very stuff nose and funky colored spit
deoderant before boogy boarding gives you blisters on your arm pits
bring motrin for everything

that´s it for this year.
Chris Pond (Sunny D)

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:13:00 +0000

Moments of PS 08

I had the privilege to shoot the photographs for Project Smile once again. The trip was definitely a memorable one for me once again and how best to describe it to you but in pictures. Enjoy!

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:04:00 +0000

One Week, Many Stories

Well the week has been quite interesting, I am going to write a few highlights of my experiences. This is my first time with the team in Mexico so my experiences are all new.

Aimee did a great job of sharing the experience of feeding the people at the dump, I could not believe how many people were there and were so, so happy to see us. It was a bit overwhelming to see so many hungry people coming from every direction as we were passing out the hamburgers. Its strange that recycling exists here but no one seems to use it, but the people who live at the dump have developed their own system of collecting and recyling everything that has any value. You need to see the pictures to really know what it is like as words dont do justice. Check the photos out.

When we went to Stone Island I had the pleasure of getting to go to some of the peoples homes who could not come to the church for the groceries we were giving out. These houses consisted of everything you can imagine... cardboard, tar paper, plastic... I was warmly invited in to one home with Rob and Megan by a lovely woman who was about 85 named Sophia. We sat in her home which was about an 8x8 room and she explained she had no family here and consistanly fell down and hurt herself. The highlight of her week seems to be the visits that come from the people working at La Vina.

Rob and I were speaking with one of the little kids, and with Christmas around the corner Santa came up. This little boy was about 5 or 6 and told us there was no Santa. Rob asked a pretty normal question... Where do all the presents come from then? The boy told us there were no presents. Pretty hard to hear.

I met another 9 year old boy and his mother who is in a wheelchair because she was run over by a bus years ago. He pushes her through the sand 5 blocks to come to the church, I took her home and I am amazed that he is able to do this task at all... Not to mention the 11 block trip to collect the mail. Such nice people with open hearts.

There was another boy who has been getting up at 4 am since he was 5 years old to go clean fish with the men as he has no father and needs to help make money for his family. He doesnt go to school, cant read and will never have the opportunities that we have so bountifully in Canada. Eye opener for sure.

We did 2 days of hard labour, and when I was younger I did a little construction work... and nothing that compares to digging a cubic meter of dirt, sand, rocks and roots out by hand in the blazing heat. But it felt good to get done. Another day we mixed concrete for a floor in a 10x10 room. The differance here was we did this by hand and mixed the concrete, rocks and sand out in the street and carried the concrete in one bucket at a time to pour the floor. We worked with some great guys and I could not know what this would be like to do every day.

Last night we hosted a little hot dog party for 200 or so children in the area of the city rich in brothels. We have spent a few days at this location but this was the first time in the evening. It was quite the experience.. In the midst of a setting most people will only see on a movie there are so many wonderful caring people and we had such a good time. We had a raffle for some t shirts and the kids loved it! A new t shirt made the kids so happy. How happy does a new t shirt make us? Interesting how we take for granted the small stuff...

Over the week we have met some great families, children and people who work at La Vina. Im not really sure how to sum this all up, but I think what I have learned is a small gesture or hand to someone in need can be quite rewarding. A smile on both peoples faces is what its all about...

KS

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 01:04:00 +0000

Cake, Cookies & a Gang of Green

Friday morning was off to a bit of a slow start, but eventually we got to work organizing the storage area in the La Viña Vineyard Church. The Vineyard Church is the hub of the La Viña ministries in Mazatlan, and they´ve amassed quite a collection of equipment and, well, stuff over the years (all of which has been or will be used in good time). Needless to say, the storage area was in dire need of some organization, but team Suitcase made quick work of that. To everyone´s surprise, Trent and Tyler also resuscitated the church´s ancient Plymouth Satellite and took it for a brief spin around the block... where it stalled again, to no one´s surprise.
The Vineyard Church is located on Av. Camaron Sabalo in the heart of what´s called "the Golden Zone" -- an area that´s considered the safest and in which most tourists confine themseves. It is here that we meet each morning for breakfast and to calibrate ourselves for the day´s challenges as we step out of the Golden Zone and into the various other colonias served by La Viña (of which there are 10, I believe, with a vision for expanding to 12). I´d urge anyone travelling through the area to take the opportunity to visit La Viña and have them share with you their vision for their Mazatlan ministries... maybe even take you for a quick tour outside of the Golden Zone so you can see what life is really like for the people who call Mazatlan home. Not so golden.

After a brief rest and a sampling of some local fare near the church, we returned recharged to prepare for our farewell party in a neighborhood called Francisco I. Madero. This would be the third and last time we would visit this specific colonia this year. All of the kids are pretty familiar with us by now and as we return each time they come rushing up, grabbing at your arms and hugging you around the waist; a bunch of toothy smiles, laughter, and bare feet.

The concrete busting crew of the previous days set up to start cooking in the kitchen and, in an example of efficiency, churned out 216 hotdogs, each on a plate with some chips and toppings. The team got them out to the kids and we regrouped to attack desert. Swiderski engineered a perfectly orchestrated dissection of the rather massive cake, cutting it 20 times in one direction, and 10 in the other to net us with 200 pieces. The man is gourmet. The kids each got some cake, ice cream and some animal crackers with these ambiguous looking shapes - is that an elephant, a hippo, or a rhino? No one was really sure, but they tasted just like animal crackers do in every other country in the world - to quote Tyler, 'derrricious'.

As desert was being prepped the kids were receiving their very own bright green Project Smile t-shirts, and before we served the sweet stuff we rallied everyone around to take some group photos. Towards the end of the evening some of us cleaned up the kitchen while the others engaged in some very high energy, sugar fueled, final night hi-jinks with the kids. You could look out the window of the kitchen and see the floor of the church teaming with an army of green clad kids running around laughing and playing like kids need to be able to do. And as we left this place for the year, all piled in the back of this big, 1/2 tonne truck and rumbling out of the dusty alley towards the hustle of the night time streets, the kids all lined up on a concrete embankment, each reaching out to the open back of the truck for a series of full-team high-fives. I looked back and laughed as Trent maneuvered the passenger van close by the kids and embankment so that he could do the same.

We drove by the Madero community this morning, Saturday, en route to another colonia, and we could see some of the kids from the previous day waving at us. Word was that most all of them were wearing their Project Smile t-shirts that next day.

RH & KR

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:39:00 +0000

Just Do Something -- Every Little Bit Makes Change Happen

Hello Everyone ... Greetings from Mexico!Wow its hot here.

Its now Friday and we have been here for a week... time has sure been flying by! Make sure you check out the pictures at the link on the side of this page so you can see some of or journey.

The title of my blog comes from a conversation I had Rob Swiderski (A fellow Suitcase worker) yesterday while we were in a very poor community yesterday. The community or colonial as they call it here in Mazatlan was located at the city dump… thousands of poor people live in this area.

“Just do something” is the title of this blog and I will explain why I feel this way.
In the colonial we were in….. Most of the homes are made from tarpaper or garbage that people throw away, yet the people within in this community are brimming with Smiles when they see us pull up in the mobile kitchen ready to serve them a tasty warm meal… In return the team smiles just as big as we have the opportunity to serve these beautiful people. Yet thru the smiles I still see a sense of big need. Everything inside me wants to solve all their problems…. Thoughts run thru my mind…. “I wish I had so much money so I could take all these people from poverty”, “I wish we could help every child get a great education”, and list of wishes run thru my mind like crazy. A sense of frustration overwhelms me.

This is when Rob came up beside me and we went for a quick walk. We talked about lots of things…. How it was so overwhelming that people live in such poverty. It’s simply heartbreaking we agreed. Both of us began to share our feelings and ideas about ways we could help… Rob has so many great ideas, and one day maybe we can implement them…. But at that moment and time the needs are simply mind blowing. As we walked talked we agreed the only true answer at that moment in time was that you simply must “just do something”…. We both smiled and understood that this is what Project Smile is all about. The answer seemed so simple but became so much more powerful to me when thru our guide Dave one of the ladies that lived in the dump shared with us how much it means to her son that we visit them. She said it’s the only real meal they have every week and they look forward to it. What we were doing made a difference in their life and to me that was huge.

So yes…. I would love to solve the poverty cycle that continues in these poor areas… and yes I have belief that one day all those beautiful children will get the education they deserve. I also hope that we (Project Smile) can be part of the solution, and I commit the rest of my life to trying to be part of that solution. But yesterday Rob helped open my eyes again, and ignited my drive to continue on the path we are travelling thru our conversation about just simply doing something. When the task seems so huge its easy to just walk away and say to yourself that it simply can’t be fixed, or you can choose to do something so small, even if you doubt its making a difference. For me I choose the latter, and I am so proud to be part of a team that chooses to do that too. So even thou yesterday we did something small in the grand scheme of things at the colonial (aka – city dump that people call home) I am humbled by the fact that we able to help in a small way.

Thanks so much for following our blog and supporting us and our cause. Without everyone's help and support this simply wouldn't be possible.

Ryan

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:41:00 +0000

Lunch at the Dump

After another wonderful breakfast at La Vina yesterday, we washed down the Mobile Kitchen and headed to Sam's- Mexico's version of Costco- to pick up some groceries. We left Sam's with 270 hamburgers, buns and all the dressings, as well as 12 bags of Cheetos.

The whole team drove down to the dump where we set up the Mobile Kitchen and started the hamburgers on the grill. While some of us prepared the food, others played soccer with the children, or participated in the puppet show. Before lunch was ready we even had a chance to do the chicken dance for the kids along with a couple other silly dances.

The second the crowd was told lunch was ready, there was a huge line in front of the Mobile Kitchen. We handed out the plates of food and glasses of water. Everyone was very thankful to be eating lunch that day.

Once everyone at the bottom of the dump had full bellies, we drove to the top to hand out the rest of the food. It was shocking to see how many people were up there gathering cardboard, cans and anything else they could get money for. As soon as we parked, people started coming to us from all over the dump. You could see people coming to the Mobile Kitchen from every direction. We even started cutting the hamburgers in half to make sure everyone had at least a little something to eat. When all was said and done, we had fed close to 300 hungry people.

We have seen many unbelievable conditions the week we have spent in Mazatlan so far, but seeing families call the dump a home was devistating. We may not have been able to change the conditions in which they live, but we were able to fill their bellies and bring smiles to their faces.

Aimee Gray

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:41:00 +0000

Stone Island

Stone Island was the destination on Wednesday for the Project Smile Team. We started the day at Sams Club, getting items to put in food bags for families. We made an assembly line in the parking lot and quickly made 150 bags,with things like oil, tomato sauce, noodles and rice.
We soon learned the reason why we needed to double bag the groceries,after getting as close as we could to the dock to head for Stone Island, we had to walk all the bags a couple of blocks to the boat. After getting to Stone Island another line quickly formed to get the bags from the boat to the waiting taxi. A third time being placed in the community centre, needless to say the double bagging was a must.
We then broke into teams of 4 and headed out around the community to hand out the tickets for the food bags. The families arrived shortly later to get thier bag.

After a quick lunch we got to work painting and digging a hole. We even had Rob H be the Project Manager to over see the progress, so we felt right at home still. The guys who volunteered to dig the hole for the light post had to move rocks first, about a city block away, to neighbour that needed them for some sort of construction job. The rest of us started painting for the afternoon. I felt right at home at the top of a ladder doing trim work. We were able to paint 3/4 of the inside of the community centre before we ran out of paint. This community centre has seen a lot of progress since last year. Last year it only had a roof and was open all around. This year, it is all closed in, kitchen being tiled, and bathrooms with running water.

We of course also played with the kids, soccer balls and badminton racquets were a hit. Chris, Warren and I made a side trip to see Chewy a young boy that has Muscular Dystrophy that hung out with us last year, but was unable to do so this year as he has a broken foot.

On the walk back to the boat kids were asking when we would be back, we unfortunately had to tell them next year, but that we were looking forward to playing with them again.

Lisa

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:09:00 +0000

PS oh 8

Project Smile 08 has been a blast so far. This has been our third day and everyone seems to be settling into the Mexican pace of life quite nicely. The scorching sun seems to slow everything down to a much more desired pace of life. We got here on Friday evening and went straight to our favorite Mexican restaurant for some authentic enchilladas and of course the non~negotiable tequilla shots on the house. The next day we were up bright and early to go cook hamburgers at a little community called Modero. It was great to see progress on some of the facilities we were working on last year. Their feeding center and washrooms help provide basic needs to so many less fortunate people in that area.

After filling about 200 little bellies we hung out and played games with the little ninos. There was the likes of Chicken fights (also known as Cherry drop or Shoulder wars) nurf football, potato sack races, basketball and cut the pickle. To start to ease into our upcoming days of manual labor we even changed a light bulb. Needless to say there were a few jokes about how many Canadians it takes to change a light bulb.

After a couple days off, an unnecessarily large Mexican buffet, 1 senile Magician, 1 trip to the hospital, a skinless dead horse and a lot of boogie boarding we are back to the trenches for the next 5 days to spread some cheer in the form of groceries, hamburgers, pancakes, soccer and I'm sure plenty of shovel inspired blisters on our soft web designing hands. It's great to be back in Mazatlan and to see lots of the same little faces and all the progress made over the last year. Thanks to everyone that has helped this happen and continues to support a great cause down here in Mexico. Stay tuned for lots more stories to come this week!

Trent Martens

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:42:00 +0000

Project Smile is back in Mazatlan!

We all arrived safely in Mazatlan Mexico on the 21st of November. We will try to keep you posted as often as we can while we are down here.

Tim

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:26:00 +0000

2008 Project Smile coming soon

Hi everyone, we are getting ready for Project Smile 2008 at the moment, you can keep up to tabs here with what we will be doing in Mexico this year. We have a new team with new adventure sure to follow. Check back here on November 22nd!

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Making Pancakes on the Man Made Mountain

Arriving at the site, David our guide turned and told us that he used to drive down into the site about 400 ft. Now we drive up about the same distance, as the ground has been built up nearly 700 ft. over the past few years. Exiting the vehicle we are met with a strong scent that hits you like a ton of bricks. Our first task is to take our 2 jugs of water and go around giving all the workers something fresh to drink. Our attention is turned towards a fight between a few workers that are competing for something valuable that has just been brought in from the city workers. This isn't an uncommon occurence from what we are told. Our kitchen crew quickly begins to prepare the breakfast/lunch of pancakes and yogourt. We have the locals form a line at the mobile feeding centre and start serving. I take several requests at the front of the line for extra plates, more glasses of water, trying to judge what requests are valid and which are not. After feeding everyone at the top of the hill, we then proceed down, feeding all the children we come across until everything, down to the last pancake and last bit of yogourt is gone. This was without a doubt the area with the most "need" that we visited, in my opinion.

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:34:00 +0000

Happy Belated Wednesday

After a long day at Modero and some late night pizza and wine at Freds (the head honcho at La Vina) we missed our posting for Wednesday. I´ll do my best to piece together a long day of events. We started out by heading to Sams (kinda like Costco down here) to pick up groceries to be later handed out in the community. We picked up Corn Oil, Rice, Tomato Sauce and other such ingredients to help stock some of the less than full fridges in Modero. A lot of the kids there do get to eat a fair amount but are a bit malnutritioned because they don´t get much variety in what food they do get. After picking up groceries we headed over to Modero where 4 or 5 of our guys were already there helping dig a trench for the sewage line being layed for the bathrooms we were helping build earlier in the week. After handing out all the groceries and finishing up one more mix of concrete we headed back to La Vina for lunch.

Later in the afternoon we headed back to Modero to serve some desert and hang out with the kids. When we got there the kids were already bouncing off the walls so we were excited to see what would happen when we fed them some coke, cake and cookies. Needless to say this sent them into new levels of horse play and we spent the rest of the night trying to keep the peace. It helped calm them down a bit when we pulled out about 60 Project Smile shirts and got them to fall in line. We then rallied everyone together for a big group shot. Some of the kids got shirts that fit and others looked more like long green robes but they were all equally thankful. After saying our goodbyes and figuring out how to say "see ya next year" in spanish, we piled in back into our yellow bus to head to Freds for pizza.

Over some pepperoni and cheese pizza Fred gave us a bit more background on what some of the greater needs are within some of the specific communities. He also talked about how we´ve helped to make some long term change in places like Modero. How the presence of organizations like the one we´re involved in have helped make a dent in things like prostitution and drug trafficing. We are excited to come to Calgary tomorrow and start to plan towards how we can begin to make a larger impact for next year and the years to come!

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:48:00 +0000

Foto explosion

So Project Smile 2007 is slowly winding down, as we just wrapped up our last work day at The Dump. I must say this year has definitely been an exhaustive nine days but also the most wonderful nine days as well. I don't know if it is just us getting old, or us fueling the children with lots of sugar, but boy do do they have endless amounts of energy! But it is this energy that fuels Project Smile and keeps us wanting to come back every year. It is the most rewarding to see the smiles on their faces as cliche as that may sound, but coming from one of the photographers on board this year, it makes for some beautiful opportunities to capture the smiles that we were witness to this year. It saddens us when we leave because we know the happiness that we bring is only temporary and we can only hope that we will leave a lasting impression. Please check out the photos from this year, as many more will be added to the flickr account as soon as we can. Here are a few of my personal favorites from this year, please enjoy!

-Tim

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:12:00 +0000

Concrete and Hamburguesas

Today we defined what it means to be a mans man.

The day started out as usual at La Vina, after an early morning breakfast the team packed up the portable kitchen and split up. Those who stayed behind did soft activities like sort donations before heading out to Stone "Island" (it's more of an inlet thing that looks like an island from mazatlans shores) via boat which only takes about 15 minutes. Joel, Ryan, Dan Johanson and myself, Daniel Opden Dries, headed out to the community with Dave in the back of the work truck which is definitely the long way at about an hour and a half commute.

After a few stops for supplies we arrived in the community we would be serving. The rest of the team was waiting in the under construction feeding/education center playing badminton and soccer with some of the local kids.

We were quickly briefed and put to work. About half of the team started up the kitchen while the rest of us began construction.

My first detail followed naturally after unloading the scaffolding we'd travelled with to the site. We set it up in the center which had a second floor poured sometime in the past month or two. Some of the moulds that had been used to pour the second floors cement supports were still stuck to the roof. Our job was to climb two stories of rickety scaffolding tear the large pallet sized moulds down using crowbars. It got pretty intense at times.

After myself and a few others brought some to the ground we moved on and began mixing cement. Since the the community has a boy in a wheelchair they wanted to add a ramp for him to get in. So we got to it, mixing up what felt like 5 tons of cement and helping La Vina's cement master Hosea make the center wheel chair accessible. Pete almost got heatstroke.

Around the time we finished pouring the wheelchair ramp the hamburgers had been cooked and serving was ready to begin. Despite a few line jumpers and the usual antics of the kids things went off without a hitch and everyone left satisfied. We also did the usual candy for garbage trade to get the lunch mess cleaned up. It went well but almost proved to be an to intense a motivator for the kids and we could barely keep up with swarm looking to get a sugar fix.

We got thing settle down, and cleaned up though in the end. By this time it was late in the afternoon and we were all ready to call it a day.

Everyone but Trent and myself headed back to the mainland/hotel via boat. The two of us stayed back with Dave and after a few more heavy, nail studded moulds made clattered to the floor we loaded up the scaffolding and supplies and headed in the truck for our hour and a half journey home.

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 04:47:00 +0000

Foot Tracing for the Special needs School

Lisa here - first-time poster.

Today, a handful of us went to the special needs school to continue the foot tracing. What is foot tracing, you ask? Well, it's exactly what it sounds like: we trace the footprints of a bunch of local kids, so La Vina and their partners can provide new shoes in the right sizes.

There was a much smaller group of children today. 50 attend the school, but only 30 were there today - we found out that a lot of the kids miss school as they tend to be sick more often than not. Their special needs range from Autism and Downs to physical and mental disabilities. The kids were quite playful and excited to see some new faces.

We broke up into groups of 2 and each headed to a class room. The first class Heather and I went into was full of smiles and waves. With one boy named Alfonso sleeping in the corner, it took some coaxing from his teacher to wake him up. A child through and through, not wanting to get up from his nap, he saw us there and pretended to keep sleeping but the smile gave it away. He then got on his knees and continued to sleep with his head on the mat. It made me smile to see that kids are all the same no matter what; they just want to be kids and enjoy their nap and tease us into thinking that they do not know we are there. One of the other classes ran and hugged another team, and the third team got high fives all around.

After returning to the hotel, Heather, Amanda and I went the City Market, which was an event in it self. There were lots of vendors selling everything and they were not shy about helping you find things you wanted - and did not want, in some cases! Talk about customer service.

On a different note, I just wanted to say that this being my first time anywhere outside of Canada and the USA, I am glad that have this opportunity to see life outside of the 'pretty' area. If I had traveled on my own, I never would have seen this side of the Mazatlan. It is a good eye opener for me and I am thankful for all that I have, and that I am able to help like this. Just seeing that La Vina is fighting to make a better life in the colonials is heartwarming.

-Lisa

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:55:00 +0000

Day Off = Time to Reflect, Rest, & Sea-Doo

Hi this is Ryan Gill... and this is my first Blogging experience. Exciting stuff!! haha..

Well this is year 3 for me with the Suitcase Interactive team and our initiative Project Smile (www.projectsmile.ca), and the 6th year I have had the priviledge personally to be here to help the poor and impoverished children of Mexico.

As some of you may know, our company has grown considerably in 2007. This has been an amazing ride, and one of the big benifits, besides the obvious benfits of being part of a dynamic growing company, is that with a bigger team this year we are able to accomplish so much more. Triple the amount of work can be done in the same amount of time. The people we are helping down here couldn´t be more happy. We are getting so much done.

As a leadership team we couldn´t be more excited to have such a great bunch of people to work with at Suitcase Interactive, and each of our staff are showing their true colors and it makes me emotional at times to see everyone being so kind spirited and helping these children out with such authenticity. Working long hours but still taking the time to just sit and hang out with the children. It`s quite touching. They just want to help these kids, and they just want to see them *SMILE*

For those that know me well, you know that I like to reminiss. I often get jeered by my good friends because I am always looking back and remembering the good times... its kinda funny when they bug me. But with my friends and business partners Trent, and Joel I really like to think about the stuff we have done, and how that has had an affect on what we are doing now.... And today was one of those days. We had our first day off, and I got to thinking about the early days of Suitcase Interactive, and our beginnings. We said when we started our company, we wanted to make a difference, and that one day we would do something really cool for this world. Hence Project Smile was born out of Suitcase Interactive and we are doing something so cool... and I am so happy to be a part of it!!

I was talking to a tourist here last night and he made an off the cuff comment to me that got me thinking. He said..."it must be great to be rich, so you can do the stuff you are doing"... it kinda made me laugh. None of us down here consider ourselves be "rich".. So...to that comment I thought, there may be some people that think that our group is generous because we are rich. Which probably isn´t the case... however you could make a strong arguement that we are rich compared to the people that we are helping, I think the clear truth is that we are rich because we are generous!

I love being generous. It brings me such contentment, and affects every part of my life in such a positive way. Business, social, spritual, and my personal well being.. It does more for me than making me feel good (the warm fuzzies), its who I am, when i am generous i know i am being everything I was created to be. Some people are born to make people laugh, others are here to counsel people going thru tough times, and those acts are absolutely amazing... but my mission in life is to be generous, and thats why Project Smile was born and thats why we are here, to do my best to live out that personal mission.... and I know my business partners share that same feeling. To be generous to those that have nothing, to give of our time, money and serve the people of Mazatlan. It´s really great!

Like the well know pebble story, where the little stone is dropped in still waters, I feel generosity generates ever-expanding ripples of benefit that move over many layers of society. It produces a virtuous cycle of self-reinforcing benefits. I hope Project Smile impacts you in a way that will encourage you towards action. Be generous, in your way, and see the differnence it can make.

To those reading this blog...Thanks for all your support and for following our team on this journey! Thanks to the team from your leadership. This is "our" trip... and together we are making a difference.

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:26:00 +0000

Tracing burgers and eating feet...

This is Chris Pond and my first visit with the Suitcase staff to Mazatlan. So far we are absolutely atonished with the warm weather, cheap food, and amazing people. (Even though as I write this, it is pouring rain). We have decided to give the people what they want, and that is a real account story of a day in the life of Project Smilers in Mazatlan. And without further adue, we present just that...

It was a humid morning, but the AC provided a cool room which helped sooth our warm bodies. The watch alarm struck the tune of a 7:15am wake up, but we would have none of it. When the second snooze alarm awoke us from our slumber, it was ovious there was no time for showers. We had people to feed and feet to trace.

Arriving at La Vina, just in the nick of time, we quickly ate a hearty breakfast consisting of salsa and eggs. After that it was a quick dash into the steamy van. As you see the night before had brought rain, which in turn had brought the humidity. This extreme level of humidty brought sweat to our brow at all hours of the day.

Arriving at Sam´s club we watched the Queen DVD.

After leaving Sams, where others had gathered and pileged for the much needed food, we hopped back into our steam automobile and were off for the day.

We arrived at Madera at 930am, where the festivities of the day had already began to unfold. Looking to our left we could see a large group of kids playing a make shift form of "pogs", to our right was the church which you could hear kids running about in. A quick stop at the local convienient store, provided Trent and myself with a much needed game of FIFA Street. (The score was 2-2, but thats a totally different story).

We then fired up the grill and got the dishes ready to serve. A quick and precise assembly line orchestrated by none other then our own Lisa Sutherland helped to make the process a simple and painless procedure.

After firing over 200 burgers we immediately turned to our newest objective... Tracing feet and getting the kids "mug shots" ready for shipment. (The mug shots aren`t actually a bad thing, they just put a face to a shoe trace). Some kids went quietly, while others put up a fight like no other. When it was all said and done, all of the kids had gotten a burger in their belly, their foot traced, and a delicious cup of iced tea.

We did a quick, but amazing, job of cleaning up the church and then headed back to La Vina.

After our arrival back in the heart of Mazatlan we noticed that the weather had tooken a turn for the worse. A storm was a brewing...

So here Mr. Ponds and myself sit, in the humid sweat box also known as the "Exlusivo Huespedes", typing this email to you, the fans. If you want to hear more of our adventures let us know, because we would love to tell them.

So far from all of the experiences and adventures we have had here, it is safe to say that we are sufficiently safonsified [Just because you use it, it doesn't mean it's a word!! - Heather] with all that Mazatlan has to offer.

Sincerly,
Warren & Chris


***End Transmission***

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:49:00 +0000

Hamburgers for 200, please.

Another eventful day for the PS07 team - and it's only 3 o'clock!

Today, we returned to Madera - home of the half-finished bathroom - to further hone the culinary skills we'd busted out in the mobile kitchen. And while we thought it'd be easier than the manual labor we'd done in days prior, apparently, cooking for two hundred school kids is no small feat. And neither is racing through the community centre dragging blankets weighed down with children. Or, taking running shoe orders - by manually tracing feet - for the same 200 kids. But Warren will tell you about that later.

What I'd like to do is give everyone out there a better breakdown of what we're actually doing - and where your generous donations are going, if you contributed to our cause. By now, you've seen a lot of pictures and heard a lot of stories, but unless you're actually here, it's hard to get a sense of what's going on. So, I'll try to sum it up for you.

While we're down here, we work with an organization called La Vina. Their 'headquarters' of sorts are right in the Golden Zone of Mazatlan (near where we stay). This is the area that most people stay in (and never leave) when they come here. And because of this, most people assume that all of Mazatlan is as prosperous and well-kept as the tourist hot spots.

Unfortunately, it's not. In actuality, most people here live in poor colonials, and hold down jobs making about 40 Pesos a day(about $4 Canadian). So it's those people and areas that La Vina - and Project Smile - work in down in Mazatlan.

Most of La Vina's work happens out of community feeding centres, that they build from the ground up, in these poor areas. The community centres serve as schools, a place to play, and of course, a place to get food.

But, these feeding centres cost money to build, and more money to operate. So that's where Project Smile comes in.

The money we raise helps with construction and supplies for new centres (paint, bricks, concrete, roofing materials, etc.) and things like food for existing ones. This year, it also paid for socks, toys, games, and all sorts of small trinkets that will serve as Christmas presents.

While we are actually IN Mazatlan, we do our best to help out with day-to-day operations of La Vina. This includes construction (i.e. those pesky bathrooms we slaved away on), but it also means lending a hand wherever it's needed. We spend a lot of time cooking in the feeding centres and in the mobile kitchen (which is a glorified trailer with a grill in it), painting, making sandwiches, whatever. More often than not, we also spend time just playing with the kids - be it a pick-up soccer game, or putting on a puppet show.

So that's the just of it. I hope that helps you guys understand what happens down here, and how much impact your donations & support have had. Keep following the blog to learn more about our day-to-day adventures, and remember: Project Smile happens EVERY year. So if you want to help out but didn't get a chance to this time around, get in touch with us when we get back. We're so happy that we can make this happen, and we look forward to doing it again next year!

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:27:00 +0000

Fast Food

Our day began as a continuation of the work we began yesterday forming the foundations for a bathroom, as well as moving countless amounts of donated cinder blocks and applied fresh coat of paint to one of the feeding centre's. There is nothing like the Mexican heat, just waiting between the days tasks takes it toll on all of us. Nevertheless, it's fantastic being able to assist in helping develop buildings that will continue to serve the people of Mazatlan.

After a much needed siesta, our team headed out to a colonial in the evening where we hitched a mobile kitchen onto the back of a pickup truck. As a team prepared and served roughly 200 meals to a community of lively and sometimes mischeveous children. It was enjoyable for the whole team to play games and fullfill a basic need of food to these beautiful children. Many of the kids our team members recognized from years past and we are looking forward being involved with more of the kids over the coming week.

It's great to be back in Mexico!

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 06:12:00 +0000

The Meaning of Hard Work

Wow. What a day!

Though we landed yesterday - and met the cool folks from La Vina and got to know Mexico - it wasn't until today that Project Smile really kicked off.

The day started bright & early with breakfast at La Vina. Dave - our official La Vina host and all-around amazing dude - arrived shortly after, and corraled us into the back of a pick-up (Mexico-style). We got off to a rocky start (the pick-up truck died, resulting in some pushing and a brief walking detour), but we arrived at our destination despite it all, and got down to work.

And work we did.

I don't want to lead any of you (specifically our clients!) to think that we don't work hard in Calgary - because we do. Creative work is tough - mentally, it can be draining to get that concept "just right." But that being said, I don't think I have EVER worked as hard as we did today.

Today's project involved construction in Mazatlan's red-light district. So when they said dig, we dug. And when they said lift, we lifted. It took several hours, shovels, a pick axe, hand-mixed concrete, and help from seven year olds who were probably stronger than us. But by the day's end, we'd built it: the foundation of a bathroom.

...Okay, so it doesn't sound like much. But for a bunch of web-geeks by trade, I think we did pretty well.

The van ride back to La Vina for a late lunch was significantly quieter (and smellier!) than the one going to our project. The entire group was exhausted and covered in a fine mixture of clay and cement. All in all, it was a tough (but rewarding) day.

I gotta say: all that labor almost made us miss our desk jobs. But of course, after a long day at the office in Calgary, we can't boogie board for three hours in the warm, crashing ocean waves. So in conclusion, this place still has Calgary beat.

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 01:35:00 +0000

Suitcase has landed

Just letting you all know that we made it safely to Mazatlan. We immediately got briefed on the weeks itinerary after arriving here and then followed the rest of the day up by getting well aquainted with the food, the sun and the ocean here in beautiful Mexico. We have a big day ahead tomorrow so join us as we officially launch Project Smile 2007.

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 04:46:00 +0000

Fun Raising at the Shanks Project Smile Fundraiser

Thanks everyone who came out this year to the 2007 Project Smile Fundraiser and silent auction at Shanks. Everyone had an amazing time, thanks to the Calgary Stampeders, Cabbie from The Score, Jill Belland from Citytv, Shanks and all the volunteers and Suitcase employees that made it happen.

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:30:00 +0000