We handed out Pack for a Purpose items from our guests to Mayan villages!
Thank you so much to our guests! Thanks to your generosity, Sandos was able to provide two local communities with colorful school supplies and a variety of household items. Last week, a small team of employees from Sandos Caracol and Sandos Playacar visited two Mayan villages to hand out much-needed items that were donated by our guests via the Pack for a Purpose program. When guests staying at our Riviera Maya resorts (Sandos Caracol and Sandos Playacar) pack donations for their trip, those items go to our “Ayudanos a Ayudar” (Help Us Help Others) program to benefit local Mayan communities.
The first Mayan community we visited was Bolmay, a village with about 180 inhabitants. Most people in Bolmay make a living by farming, but the town has also come together to make homemade bread and sell it to nearby towns. Their bakery kitchen uses rustic ovens and is built out of red clay, glass bottles and plastic bottles to keep the kitchen cool and take advantage of the daylight. Bolmay has a small school with two classrooms with nearly 70 children (kindergarten, elementary school and middle school).
Next, we visited the village of Lol-Be, with a population of nearly 300 people. The adults mostly make a living by farming, and a few families have their own corner store business selling basic grocery items. Lol-Be has a pre-school and other classrooms for elementary and middle school students, with nearly 90 students.
During our visit, we were able to donate the following to every little girl and boy:
- Notebooks
- Pencils
- Erasers
- Pencil sharpeners
- Colored pencils
- Calculators
- Crayons
- Rulers
- Toys
Local teachers received:
- Coloring books
- Chalk
- Crayons
Every mother was given:
- Towels
- Slippers
- Clothing
- Shoes
- Cooking utensils (spoons, plates, etc.)
And of course we couldn’t forget the local men. They were each given:
- Shoes
- Hats
- Shirts
- T-shirts
- Pants
The team of Sandos employees that participated in visiting the villages said, “The most interesting part of this fantastic trip was the joy of spending time with the people, playing with the kids, talking with the adults and eating together. We’re happy to share photos from this amazing visit, and we thank you for your important participation in our ‘Ayudanos a Ayudar’ (Help Us Help Others) program. With this program, we can be the intermediary between our guests and the locals so that even the most remote Mayan communities can get help. It’s important to Sandos that this help does not affect the area’s local culture: language, religion, traditions and customs.”
Pack for a Purpose is an international program that allows travelers to pack donation items in their suitcase before traveling to a participating hotel, then give their donations to the hotel staff on arrival. The hotel staff will then make sure the guests’ donations go where they are most needed. With Sandos, all of our four Mexico resorts participate in Pack for a Purpose, so we encourage all of our guests to help us out with this worthwhile cause to help local communities!
We would greatly appreciate it if future guests at Sandos Caracol and Sandos Playacar could donate the following:
- Toys that don’t require batteries
- Toys that don’t promote violence
- Small-size clothing for hot weather (adults and children)
- Small-size shoes for hot weather (adults and children)
- School supplies for pre-school, elementary school and middle school levels
For guests at our other Mexico resorts, please check the following links to see what Pack for a Purpose items are most needed in the area:
Thanks again to our generous guests who participated in Pack for a Purpose! Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to help these local Mayan communities in such a big way.
We have even more heartwarming photos of this trip on our Facebook page.