Sending $$ to Cozumel

[horn34]

When we stayed near Av 30 we always turned on one of the N streets heading to Centro so we've probably never gone past K'ooben Laab. What kind of a place (restaurant) is it? You seem to be a regular there.

Fresh handmade breads and pastas. Incredible stuff. Both the owners are Italian.

If you used to drink coffee at Coz Coffee Roasting, you've probably met Mirko, he worked there for a long time.

 

[scubaNYC16]

Fresh handmade breads and pastas. Incredible stuff. Both the owners are Italian.

If you used to drink coffee at Coz Coffee Roasting, you've probably met Mirko, he worked there for a long time.

Yup, really delicious pasta. I was lucky to eat there the beginning of March before everything went bananas.

 

[Pelagicsal]

Hey Marg, @MMM -
Want to add the links in this thread to your pinned fundraising thread so they’re all in one place? Thanks for organizing efforts to help the island!

 

[JenLoves2Dive]

Fresh handmade breads and pastas. Incredible stuff. Both the owners are Italian.
If you used to drink coffee at Coz Coffee Roasting, you've probably met Mirko, he worked there for a long time.

I adore Mirko and his wife, Antonia. They are such wonderful people!! Yes, the gift cards are a great deal!

Also,I love using Xoom especially because I can send to Elektra and BancoAzteca is located inside Elektra and the transaction is immediate. Same day and you can get a notification on your hone when the money is picked up and send a notification to the person you are sending money to. During normal times, they are open Monday through Sunday 9-9pm. I had read that they closed come of the Elektra locations a well as Coppal. Am going to check tomorrow to see if they have reduced hours. That's the easiest for me. You can also send to Oxxo.
No matter what, you must make sure that the name you send it to, is the EXACT name that is on their voter card.

 

[horn34]

Cerveceria Punta Sur reopened this weekend for pizza or empanada deliveries and you can buy gift cards from them as well. Growler fills are 100p a liter.

 

[lionfish-eater]

On their web page dated March 26 it says " To date, in the last 3 weeks, we’ve raised over $1000 dollars."

I sure hope that is not up-to-date. They say their food bank needs to feed 8000 families. That could easily be 40,000 people or more.

I'm not seeing a highly visible link on the Food Bank page. We donated directly to: Rhondapenzell@gmail.com via PayPal.

It looks like the Humane Society is in desperate need too!

I can personally vouch for Rhonda.
She is a friend and a genuinely nice person.
I met her a few years ago and she told me then about her efforts to support the food shelves.
She has coordinated with the management at Chedraui to leverage the buying power and to get the corporation to support the needs of the Island.
She is an expat from the midwest who lives full time in Cozumel.
If you had any reservations about sending money, I can assure everyone that the money is being used properly.

 

[Mattom]

Looking for advice on making a donation. Had a recent death in the family. That person loved animals, especially dogs. Donations to animal shelters were requested in their name.
I see for the first time Cozumel Humane Society. I also see there is Salvando Amigos Y Dejando Huellas (“Saving Friends and Leaving Footprints”). Any reason for one over the other or should I just split the donations? Would they take a personal check? I'm fine with cash but would that be a problem (as far as depositing)if it's a good chunk of change. I also worry in these trying times some may go missing or not used for the animals. PayPal is impersonal but may be best cause I'll want to take all the dogs home when I see them.

I already donate regularly at home. I'd like to help in Cozumel too. It would also mean a lot to the family as Cozumel is our favorite dive spot.

Any locals that can give insight? Thanks in advance.

 

[JenLoves2Dive]

Looking for advice on making a donation. Had a recent death in the family. That person loved animals, especially dogs. Donations to animal shelters were requested in their name.
I see for the first time Cozumel Humane Society. I also see there is Salvando Amigos Y Dejando Huellas (“Saving Friends and Leaving Footprints”). Any reason for one over the other or should I just split the donations? Would they take a personal check? I'm fine with cash but would that be a problem (as far as depositing)if it's a good chunk of change. I also worry in these trying times some may go missing or not used for the animals. PayPal is impersonal but may be best cause I'll want to take all the dogs home when I see them.

I already donate regularly at home. I'd like to help in Cozumel too. It would also mean a lot to the family as Cozumel is our favorite dive spot.

Any locals that can give insight? Thanks in advance.

@Mattom - Hi there. I'm a long time Scubaboard member and Cozumel resident, and for those who know me, they know I've lived in Cozumel over 8 years full time now and have owned my home here for 12. Been diving in Cozumel for about 26 years. (Gosh how did that happen?) lol I'm a very active volunteer with the Cozumel Humane Society. I've fostered several Coz dogs and I am a proud foster failure (meaning I couldn't let the last one go). She's asleep on my bed right now and mommy woke up and can't get back to sleep.

First of all, I want to extend my condolences to you and your family on the loss of a loved one. I'm sure it must give you some happiness to know that you can help some organizations that are in dire need right now and fulfill the wish to help. The animals, many times are the first to suffer when something like this happens where people can not work for long periods of time. Which has rarely happened here and most certainly not for this long. There are so many people out of work right now and we are going into the 6th month. So things are becoming dire for so many.

I can check in with the woman who runs Salvando Amigos Y Dejando Huellas and see what their immediate needs are. Same with the Cozumel Humane Society. Lisa Ramirez, the president of the Humane Society and owner of RocknJava restaurant, and I are in touch weekly. Another good friend knows the woman who runs Salvando Amigos Y Dejando Huellas.

Another place in need is the local dog pound. They are so many animals out on the streets right now. Some people just take them to another location and dump them. It's so sad. And the director is a kind soul who is trying so hard to keep things going. The city is giving them the barest minimum.

Also, a friend of mine, Andrea Sekula, who is the nurse liason for CostaMed Hospital (CMC) is helping one of the more poorer areas on the island to feed their pets. She and some helpers have been driving to the inner parts of the island weekly since this all started and they are delivering individual bags of dog food to the people that have limited or no access to get into town. I am sure they need help. Some of them have even taken in more dogs since there seem to be more on the street right now. She has a system set up for buying bags of dog food in bulk to save as much $ as possible on each grocery store run.

You can send me a message here on Scubaboard and we can arrange a time to talk. I would be happy to get a list for you by going and directly talking to these people. I do speak Spanish so no problems communicating and I can find out who needs what and if there are any emergencies that need to be addressed. I have a Pathfinder so I can directly help that way as well. Most of these people have been doing this for the past 4 months so they do have a system down. Let me get a list together and see where the biggest needs are but I can promise you that all these animal organizations are in desperate need of help. Like I said, they are last on the ever growing list of groups that need support right now.

A check is not advisable, as it can take weeks to clear (and it may not, depending) and then there are taxes to be paid because it has to be deposited into someone's bank account and that means paying taxes to the government which is not necessary for a charitable donation, so it would create a headache for someone. There are several ways it can be sent, depending on the amount, but for sure you can tell me where and how to distribute. It's not difficult. I send $ to myself all the time and have used several different methods over the years. For record keeping, I can easily scan receipts for you, have people sign receipts for any cash donations and get videos and photos that you can share with your family. (Btw, as far as I know, Cozumel Humane Society is the only one on the list that is a tax deductible 501c3 charity.)

I will get you the list of what is needed where, and then you and your family can decide how you would like to distribute the funds.

I will send you a message with my home phone. It's a U.S. VoIP phone and rings directly in my home here. I will also give you my Cozumel cell #. We can chat and I can give you some ideas and answer any questions you might have. Thank you for reaching out to help!
Jennifer

PS You really should consider coming here to help with donations. I promise that the dog you bring home with you, won't be over the 70 pound luggage weight restriction. ;-)

 

[JamesBon92007]

Looking for advice on making a donation. Had a recent death in the family. That person loved animals, especially dogs. Donations to animal shelters were requested in their name.
I see for the first time Cozumel Humane Society. I also see there is Salvando Amigos Y Dejando Huellas (“Saving Friends and Leaving Footprints”). Any reason for one over the other or should I just split the donations? Would they take a personal check? I'm fine with cash but would that be a problem (as far as depositing)if it's a good chunk of change. I also worry in these trying times some may go missing or not used for the animals. PayPal is impersonal but may be best cause I'll want to take all the dogs home when I see them.

I already donate regularly at home. I'd like to help in Cozumel too. It would also mean a lot to the family as Cozumel is our favorite dive spot.

Any locals that can give insight? Thanks in advance.

I'm not a local but got my information from one. If you go on PayPal they have their "Giving Fund" and the Humane Society is on their list, but it took me a while to find the Giving Fund page. Perhaps the easy way to find it is to Google "Paypal Giving Fund" and click on the link. The good news is that the Humane Society and Rhonda Penzell now show up on my PayPal home page so I don't need to go hunting for them any more. The bad news is that many people here in the US are in bad shape too so we have not been able to donate quite as much to Cozumel lately. We are booked (again) for November so hopefully we'll make it there this time. Technically, according to the government of the state of California, I live way below the poverty level so if I can manage to donate then just about anyone should be able to.

And for you Crazy King fans, we did get a gift card and our T-shirts are waiting for us.

 

[JenLoves2Dive]

BURRITOS GORDITOS could use a little extra love right now. As if 2020 wasn't hard enough.

Our favorite Burrito Man, Eusubio had a heart attack five days ago. They are closed for the month of September and focused on his healing. He's only 32 but this is a heart defect that runs in the family. Sadly, his younger brother, age 28, died from heart attack just last year.

This is Erin's post from their Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/burritosgorditos/

"Hi burrito lovers! We’ve got good news and bad news.

Bad news: Eusebio (aka Tony the Burrito Artist) had a heart attack yesterday morning and we will be closed until further notice.

Good news: he is feeling much better, still in the hospital, but on the road to recovery.

If you’d like to help, we’ll be selling gift certificates for future burritos, information to follow on our Facebook page. In the meantime, thanks for sending any extra good vibes and positive juju for a speedy recovery! "
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Latest Update --

Hi Burrito Family, Thank you so much for all of the kind words, phone calls, and positive juju being sent our way. It’s awesome to know how much everyone loves our Burrito Guy. He’s got a recovery ahead of him so we’ve decided to close for the month of September so he can focus on getting back to 100% burrito making shape.

I’ve set up a gift card link on our website: https://burritosgorditos.wixsite.com/burritosgorditos
If you’d like to pay for some burritos today to enjoy in the future.
Again, thank you for your support! We love our burrito lovers!