SANTA CLAUS COMES TO THE TOKEN STORE!
Usually in November the Token Store has a huge sale prior to Christmas but this year we had a special visitor coming so we decided to move the big sale to January. Instead, we had a luncheon for all of the shoppers in honor of Santa Claus!
Paul Brier joined in the fun with his saxophone playing all the favorite Christmas tunes. After a meal of taquitos, beans, rice, fruit and dessert, each of the adults was given a bag of beans and rice.
Paul Brier joined in the fun with his saxophone playing all the favorite Christmas tunes. After a meal of taquitos, beans, rice, fruit and dessert, each of the adults was given a bag of beans and rice.
Santa Claus arrived was ready to meet everyone
and have photos taken with Santa.
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The excitement was palpable and only a few of the children were afraid of the man with a white beard wearing a red suit. We probably had 100 children have their pictures taken with Santa. Here are a few of the photos. This is the photographer's favorite! 
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The volunteers who work with the Token Store would like to thank you for your continued support of this project. We have been working in San Juan Cosalá for over three years now and none of this would have been possible without your generous donations of items to sell and money donated to help us buy school supplies, rice and beans, and other items. We continue to pay tokens for work projects and participation in a variety of classes.
From all of us to all of you, have a very happy holiday season.
From all of us to all of you, have a very happy holiday season.
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ANNUAL
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On November 29th it was time once again for our annual Christmas Token Store sale. This is the highlight of the year for the Token Store and the ladies save all year long to see what their hard earned tokens can buy. This store is unique because it is totally run by volunteers and all the items offered for sale have never been seen before.
We would like to thank all of the volunteers. Nancy, Jonnie, Paul, Sherry, Deb, Sandy, Terry, Barb, Carol, and Nora helped us price all of the items over several weeks and then set up the store.
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One of the things that we have learned is that it is important not only to us but to the people of San Juan to be fair. This year we had over 70 shoppers, some arriving as early as 5:45 am to sign up for a spot in line. What we do is open the doors to the first 20 on the list to shop for 15 minutes and they can only buy 5 items and then we let in the next groups in the order that they signed up. This is a way to accomplish not only crowd control but to give everyone a chance to snag some really great items. The list is gone through twice and then the children are given a chance to shop with their parents. The big event of the day however is the raffle where we draw numbers for the really exceptional and more expensive items to choose from. Once everyone has had a chance at the raffle we open shopping up for everyone. There were some really great items this year from shoes to clothes to toys to gifts. Everyone had smiles on their faces and their arms full of treasured finds. They spent a total of 2,778 tokens!
From all of us to all of you, thank you so much for your continued support. May all of you have the best the holiday season has to offer and a great 2018! |
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TWO YEARS AND STILL GOING STRONG!!
In September we found that our second year in San Juan Cosalá had already come and gone. It has certainly been a busy year for us at the Token Store and for the ladies in the community.
As you know, the people of San Juan receive tokens for work or classes receiving one token for every half hour of work or one token for every hour of classes attended. The street sweeping continues and the streets of San Juan are cleaner than ever. We have a rotating group of ladies that work in the Token Store every other week setting up, assisting with purchases, and then storing all the items in the bodega after the store closes and are paid tokens for their participation. As to classes, there are quite a few. There are cooking classes, nutrition classes which in addition to tokens for class attendance they also earn tokens for weight loss, English classes, computer classes, and craft classes. The ladies who work with Pro México also receive tokens for a variety of jobs performed.
As a result of all of their hard work and continuing education, we are proud to say the people of San Juan made purchases from the Token Store with a total of 14,723 tokens from September 2016 through September 2017! That is a lot of work and classes!
None of this would have been possible without the Lakeside community's generosity with their donations of household items and clothing as well as monetary donations. We were also fortunate to have been selected to receive a grant from the Lakeside Charity Grant program. The money we received was for the purchase of nonperishable food, school supplies, toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, soap, and glasses. We applied for the grant with the participation of Pro México. You can read the article from the Guadalajara Reporter under the tab "In The News".
Another project that made the year pass by quickly was the opening of Café La Canasta in the Pro México building. It is open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings from 8:30 until noon serving beverages, tasty muffins and breakfast tacos and is now also open on Friday and Saturday evenings. There is a gift shop/art gallery featuring local artists Ken Gosh and Chelo, paper crafts by ladies from San Juan, and the always popular corn husk creations by the ladies from San Cristóbal. This project is to assist five ladies in learning how to establish and run a business. This project could not have been possible without a generous grant from St. Andrew's church to purchase all the times necessary to open the café.
On a sad note we had to say goodbye to two very important partners, not only to us but to our community.
We said goodbye to Anita's Animals. We had two ladies who worked there twice a week helping Anita with her many responsibilities in caring for the animals in her shelter. We wish Anita the best and also thank all of those who came to the rescue when it was time for the shelter to close.
We also had to say goodbye to the Terracycle program which benefited the Feria by helping to pay for the transportation of the artisans who travel here each year to sell their wonderful creations. This was a recycling program that the ladies participated in by collecting chip and cookie wrappers and other items approved for the program. Unfortunately the vendors who supported Terracycle made the decision to cancel their participation. This is a huge loss not only for the Feria and the ladies of San Juan but for our landfills.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for a very successful second year and we are looking forward to the years to come working with and for our friends in San Juan Cosalá.
As you know, the people of San Juan receive tokens for work or classes receiving one token for every half hour of work or one token for every hour of classes attended. The street sweeping continues and the streets of San Juan are cleaner than ever. We have a rotating group of ladies that work in the Token Store every other week setting up, assisting with purchases, and then storing all the items in the bodega after the store closes and are paid tokens for their participation. As to classes, there are quite a few. There are cooking classes, nutrition classes which in addition to tokens for class attendance they also earn tokens for weight loss, English classes, computer classes, and craft classes. The ladies who work with Pro México also receive tokens for a variety of jobs performed.
As a result of all of their hard work and continuing education, we are proud to say the people of San Juan made purchases from the Token Store with a total of 14,723 tokens from September 2016 through September 2017! That is a lot of work and classes!
None of this would have been possible without the Lakeside community's generosity with their donations of household items and clothing as well as monetary donations. We were also fortunate to have been selected to receive a grant from the Lakeside Charity Grant program. The money we received was for the purchase of nonperishable food, school supplies, toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, soap, and glasses. We applied for the grant with the participation of Pro México. You can read the article from the Guadalajara Reporter under the tab "In The News".
Another project that made the year pass by quickly was the opening of Café La Canasta in the Pro México building. It is open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings from 8:30 until noon serving beverages, tasty muffins and breakfast tacos and is now also open on Friday and Saturday evenings. There is a gift shop/art gallery featuring local artists Ken Gosh and Chelo, paper crafts by ladies from San Juan, and the always popular corn husk creations by the ladies from San Cristóbal. This project is to assist five ladies in learning how to establish and run a business. This project could not have been possible without a generous grant from St. Andrew's church to purchase all the times necessary to open the café.
On a sad note we had to say goodbye to two very important partners, not only to us but to our community.
We said goodbye to Anita's Animals. We had two ladies who worked there twice a week helping Anita with her many responsibilities in caring for the animals in her shelter. We wish Anita the best and also thank all of those who came to the rescue when it was time for the shelter to close.
We also had to say goodbye to the Terracycle program which benefited the Feria by helping to pay for the transportation of the artisans who travel here each year to sell their wonderful creations. This was a recycling program that the ladies participated in by collecting chip and cookie wrappers and other items approved for the program. Unfortunately the vendors who supported Terracycle made the decision to cancel their participation. This is a huge loss not only for the Feria and the ladies of San Juan but for our landfills.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for a very successful second year and we are looking forward to the years to come working with and for our friends in San Juan Cosalá.
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The Token Store in San Juan Cosalá has taken on another project, and this one is quite a big one. Last year, San Juan Cosalá had a large number of cases of dengue fever. The town was routinely sprayed with chemicals, but that didn't seem to slow the number of cases. I have done some research on the problem of dengue carrying mosquitoes and there doesn't seem to be a chemical-free trap that actually kills them. Providing spray with Deet for the town is cost prohibitive. What does show real promise for helping the situation is ovitraps, or as my friend, Deanne Barber, calls them "birth control for mosquitoes." I understand that this type of trap is used with great success by the U.S. military in areas where malaria is a serious problem. I have experimented with several materials and have a simple-to-make and inexpensive prototype. We are working with Lola, the Delegata of San Juan, and physicians from the clinic to get these ovitraps into the households. We will be training residents of the town to make them. The actual cost to make one is about 20 pesos, and Lola feels that most people in the town can afford that. We will, however, need to pay the trained locals who make them a small amount for each. So we are hoping for sales of these to the Expat community for 50 pesos each, which would help pay the people to make them and to provide free ones to the sick, elderly, disabled, etc. of the town, for which even 20 pesos would be a hardship. We would also be happy to take donations to be able to provide them to these needy locals.
I have attached a picture of one, and this is how it works. Mosquitoes prefer to lay their eggs on or near stagnant water. They will, of course, lay them on fresh rainfall, but if given a choice, they will look for stagnant water (the yuckier the better). Mosquitoes are also attracted to dark colors. A man's sock, (black and thick is best) is siliconed to the bottom of a yogurt or large cottage cheese plastic container. Holes are made for the wire for hanging the trap, and a larger overflow hole is placed about 20% down from the top. The trap will come with a few pieces of dog food in the bottom, which when water is added, in a few days will create yucky water. The water is wicked up by the sock. The mosquitoes will lay their eggs on the rim of the container. When the larvae develop, they will crawl and drop through the small-holed metal screen on the top as they are seeking the water. When the larvae mature into mosquitoes, they are too big to get back out through the screen. A plastic screen is glued over the overflow hole to keep them from exiting by that route. The top screen can be occasionally taken off to remove dead mosquitoes. The process takes about 6 weeks to be fully effective and it is supposed to eliminate 98% of the mosquitoes. About 4-6 ovitraps are needed for an acre of land, so each household in San Juan Cosalá would need only one.
If you could collect the large plastic yogurt or cottage cheese containers, the white wire clothes hangers (they are light weight and easier to cut, but will support the weight of the water) twist ties, and even old (or new) men’s black socks, we would greatly appreciate it. These donations can be dropped off at the government building on the San Juan Cosalá square or I can arrange for times to drop off at locations closer to you.
If you would like to order one or more of the ovitraps for yourself or your maid or gardener's families, you can send an order to nancyb1123@hotmail.com We know we can't eradicate the disease, but we are hoping we can cut down on the number of cases. I understand that if a person gets dengue for a second time, it is much worse, and last year many people who had other health problems were hospitalized with dengue.
Thank you for considering supporting this cause.
I have attached a picture of one, and this is how it works. Mosquitoes prefer to lay their eggs on or near stagnant water. They will, of course, lay them on fresh rainfall, but if given a choice, they will look for stagnant water (the yuckier the better). Mosquitoes are also attracted to dark colors. A man's sock, (black and thick is best) is siliconed to the bottom of a yogurt or large cottage cheese plastic container. Holes are made for the wire for hanging the trap, and a larger overflow hole is placed about 20% down from the top. The trap will come with a few pieces of dog food in the bottom, which when water is added, in a few days will create yucky water. The water is wicked up by the sock. The mosquitoes will lay their eggs on the rim of the container. When the larvae develop, they will crawl and drop through the small-holed metal screen on the top as they are seeking the water. When the larvae mature into mosquitoes, they are too big to get back out through the screen. A plastic screen is glued over the overflow hole to keep them from exiting by that route. The top screen can be occasionally taken off to remove dead mosquitoes. The process takes about 6 weeks to be fully effective and it is supposed to eliminate 98% of the mosquitoes. About 4-6 ovitraps are needed for an acre of land, so each household in San Juan Cosalá would need only one.
If you could collect the large plastic yogurt or cottage cheese containers, the white wire clothes hangers (they are light weight and easier to cut, but will support the weight of the water) twist ties, and even old (or new) men’s black socks, we would greatly appreciate it. These donations can be dropped off at the government building on the San Juan Cosalá square or I can arrange for times to drop off at locations closer to you.
If you would like to order one or more of the ovitraps for yourself or your maid or gardener's families, you can send an order to nancyb1123@hotmail.com We know we can't eradicate the disease, but we are hoping we can cut down on the number of cases. I understand that if a person gets dengue for a second time, it is much worse, and last year many people who had other health problems were hospitalized with dengue.
Thank you for considering supporting this cause.
Children Helping Children and Their Families
Since the beginning of the Token Store, almost two years ago, my granddaughters, Aubrey and Laurel, now ages 12 and 9, have been consistent donors of gently used clothes and toys. I would tell them about the children that these donations went to, and how they and/or their parents did community work or took classes to earn the tokens to be able to buy them. I’m not sure they completely understood, because they, like most of our children and grandchildren have never gone a day feeling hunger or ever wanted for anything they need. If anything, like many children in the United States, they have much more than they need.
I had explained to the girls that while most things for the store are donated, we did have to have money to be able to put rice, beans, and other critical food items in the store. One day last week at noon, my son called and told me that the girls had on their own set up a lemonade stand, and instead of keeping the money for something they wanted to buy, they had decided to give the money to the Token Store. By then Aubrey and Laurel had collected $7 (US). When the day was over, they had taken in $16. They called to tell me how much they had made that day, and I told them that $16 would buy a lot of beans and rice.
It was rewarding to me to see my girls want to give to the people in San Juan Cosalá who have so little. They spent the entire day in the hot Austin, Texas sun. I asked Laurel if it got really hot. She said, “It got hot lots of times, but we did drink some of the lemonade.”
There are so many worthwhile charities at Lakeside. Consider giving to one or more.
Proud "Mimi", Nancy Brown
Aubrey and Laurel with two very satisfied customers
Santa Comes to San Juan Cosalá
On Monday, December 19th, Santa arrived in San Juan Cosalá. We had planned for this to be an event for the children of token recipients but when word got out that Santa was in town the crowd swelled! We were delighted to have 177 children be able to sit on Santa's lap, have their picture taken, and let Santa know what they wanted for Christmas. They ranged in age from infants to 16 years old and we also had a few of adults get in on the fun. We had a lot of requests for bicycles and dolls. One young man said that he had been bad and so he didn't deserve anything. The most memorable request came from a young lady who asked for a change of clothes.
Many thanks for Santa (AKA Francis Dryden) taking time out of his busy schedule to come to San Juan and it is just possible that this was the first time for many of these children to have this experience. Thanks to the generous donations to the Token Store they will each receive their own Santa picture. Jonnie Harker |
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Christmas Token Store 2016
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The Token Store Christmas Store was December 1, and it was truly amazing, breaking all previous records for tokens taken in and people shopping. As donations for the store came in during the year, we always had the Christmas Store in mind. We would hold back some of the nicest toys, clothes, household goods, etc, for this special sale.
The people in San Juan Cosalá who work for tokens were very excited about the store. Leading up to December 1, the ladies who clean the streets wanted to have street cleaning 5 days a week in order to accumulate tokens. Jonnie decided on two days a week, rather than the usual 1, and increased the time from 1 ½ hours to 2 hours. We knew there were a lot of tokens in the community, as we had recently given many tokens for the Christmas Bazaar craft classes, in addition to the usual tokens for Token Store employees, TerraCycle collection, street cleaning, Anita’s animal helpers, street dog feeding, and all the other classes for which tokens are earned. |
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To make it fair and also exciting for the people, everything in the store for this day was new to the store. And, instead of having the employees of the store price the items, the volunteers did all the pricing so no one would see ahead of time what the store would be “selling”. There were so many items that it took the volunteers several days to sort and price everything. We even had to use another room in Pro México to store some of the items, as our storage room was overflowing.
The volunteers arrived about 8:00 AM to set up the store that would open at 10:00. We were met with a long line of people already waiting. It was quite organized as the people themselves had a list of the people in order of time of arrival. We don’t know exactly when they began arriving, but one of our store employees told us that she arrived at 6:00 AM and was number 71 on the list.
To make sure everyone got a fair chance at the merchandise, at 10:00 we let the first 15 people into the store. They could shop for 15 minutes and buy a total of 5 items. Their names then went to the end of the list and they could shop again when everyone got a chance to shop for the first time. The children had their own tokens to spend, as they are our primary collectors of TerraCycle materials. After all the adults had an opportunity to shop once, we let the children in to pick out one toy. At 12:30, we had the raffle. The things that we knew everyone would want to buy were held out for the raffle. As names were drawn, shoppers got to select one item that they could buy.
After the raffle, everyone was allowed to come into the store and shop. The fun really began as the shopping was hectic, the lines for check-out were long, and the villagers were able to buy lots of wonderful items. Again, the volunteers took over running the store and checking out all the people, so our store employees could shop with everyone else.
At the end of the day, tables that had been stacked with merchandise were empty, empty hangers filled the rods, and we had taken in an amazing 2,964 tokens. We got sincere comments of “muchas gracias”, big smiles, even hugs, and many people went home with wonderful items for their families.
As the volunteers talked about the day, several things were noted. A number of children, when given the opportunity to spend the tokens they had earned, went not to the toy room to pick from a large selection of toys, but instead used their tokens for toothbrushes, pencils, notebook paper or shoes. We also saw children using their tokens to buy a pretty set of earrings for their mother or something special for a brother or sister. We saw tears in the eyes of adults who were proud that they had had the opportunity to work to buy items for their families.
We, as volunteers, are continually touched by the sincerity and appreciation of these wonderful people. We are so privileged to have an opportunity to work with the people of San Juan Cosalá. We want to thank everyone who has contributed to the success of the Token Store through your donations of items, money, and time. We could not accomplish our motto of “A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out” without your help.
Nancy Brown
Christmas Bazaar in San Juan Cosalá
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When the ladies of San Juan Cosalá asked the volunteers of the Token Store to help them with a Christmas Bazaar, we glad accepted as this fit in perfectly with our mantra, “A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out”. It was decided that the bazaar would be held at Pro México in San Juan Cosalá. As always, the great people who run Pro México were entirely supportive of the idea. Some of the ladies had items they knew how to make, and they would put these items in the bazaar. Other ladies wanted to learn to make items that would sell. So the craft lessons began! We held lessons each Friday afternoon from 4:00 to 6:00. We, individually, supplied the money for supplies, since the Token Store has a very small budget and does not typically deal in money. Up to 40 ladies came to participate in the classes. At times, we had craft classes, jewelry classes, knitting classes, and cooking classes all going at the same time. Rather than this being a problem, we actually found that this Friday afternoon time became a social and bonding time for the ladies. They could talk and laugh while working on their various projects. We found over time, that this time together formed a support group. This is especially important in a poor village that has very few resources like San Juan Cosalá. The ladies had an opportunity to talk together and see what was available to them and also to see themselves as capable and smart in an environment that is still very much male dominated. |
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The Christmas Bazaar, we discovered, was not without its challenges. Midway through the lessons, Pro México began redoing the entire electrical system in the building. This meant that walls were chipped away to bury the wire in conduit into the walls. During some of this time, the building was so filled with cement dust and debris that classes had to be postponed. In fact, at one point, we thought we would not have enough time left to have a Christmas Bazaar this year. But, instead of canceling, we ramped up the classes to every weekday for the last few weeks.
The Christmas Bazaar was held on December 19. Cookie and candy orders were taken, raffles were held, and crafts were sold. The ladies took some of the items left to a potluck in Raquet Club and were able to sell more. For their efforts, the ladies earned money and all were given tokens for their participation in the classes.
We learned much from this first endeavor. Next year we hope to have a much bigger Christmas Bazaar. We will start early and expand the range of items. I think the biggest thing we learned through this process is how much fun it is to work with each other. Working together certainly helps to close the cultural gap. We receive gratitude and love from these ladies and they have our gratitude and love in return.
Nancy Brown
The Christmas Bazaar was held on December 19. Cookie and candy orders were taken, raffles were held, and crafts were sold. The ladies took some of the items left to a potluck in Raquet Club and were able to sell more. For their efforts, the ladies earned money and all were given tokens for their participation in the classes.
We learned much from this first endeavor. Next year we hope to have a much bigger Christmas Bazaar. We will start early and expand the range of items. I think the biggest thing we learned through this process is how much fun it is to work with each other. Working together certainly helps to close the cultural gap. We receive gratitude and love from these ladies and they have our gratitude and love in return.
Nancy Brown
La Bodega Singing Contest
In the month of October, La Bodega held its annual singing contest every Thursday night with each night designated for some of the proceeds to go to a local organization working within the communities around Lake Chapala. The Token Store was fortunate to be chosen as one of the recipients. On October 20th, because of the generous crowd on hand, we received 5,382 pesos. Thank you La Bodega for your generosity and for including us!
We invited Alfonso, the husband of one of our Token Store workers, to participate in the contest. Nancy and I had heard him sing at his daughter's baby shower and we were sure he could be the overall winner. His voice is amazing and as we predicted he was the winner on Token Store night and was invited to return the next week for the finals. Also performing was our own Tony Trueblood. He also made it to the finals but unfortunately was unable to attend the finals.
The finals were held on October 27th and Alfonso was in prime form. He was the judge's favorite! Congratulations Alfonso.
Jonnie Harker
We invited Alfonso, the husband of one of our Token Store workers, to participate in the contest. Nancy and I had heard him sing at his daughter's baby shower and we were sure he could be the overall winner. His voice is amazing and as we predicted he was the winner on Token Store night and was invited to return the next week for the finals. Also performing was our own Tony Trueblood. He also made it to the finals but unfortunately was unable to attend the finals.
The finals were held on October 27th and Alfonso was in prime form. He was the judge's favorite! Congratulations Alfonso.
Jonnie Harker
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WE ARE CELEBRATING OUR FIRST ANNIVERSARY! |
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Well, a year has passed since we opened The Magical Token Store in San Juan Cosalá and what a year it has been! Nancy's dream of "Giving a Hand Up – Not a Hand Out" has become a reality. We have made many new friends and formed some significant alliances not only in San Juan but in the Lakeside community.
We have formed a close alliance with ProMéxico and Oscar Limón who graciously allow us to use their space for our store. In return we have helped with their two week children's summer camp in July and are in the process of getting ready to paint the interior with us providing the paint. We also assist in classes teaching crafts, cooking, jewelry making, sewing, and numerous other activities.
A goal for Oscar and ProMéxico was to have a continuing forum bringing together all of the resources that are available to the community. The Token Store worked with Oscar to help him reach his goal and organized the quarterly forums. The organizations represented at the forums are ProMéxico and promoters, The Token Store, Operation Feed, Operation Compassion, TerraCycle, the Children's Soccer Program, the Children's Orchestra Program, representatives from UNIVA University in Guadalajara for research, Jaltepec Hotel and Hospitality School, and Delegada Lola Carbajal of San Juan Cosalá.
We have formed a close alliance with ProMéxico and Oscar Limón who graciously allow us to use their space for our store. In return we have helped with their two week children's summer camp in July and are in the process of getting ready to paint the interior with us providing the paint. We also assist in classes teaching crafts, cooking, jewelry making, sewing, and numerous other activities.
A goal for Oscar and ProMéxico was to have a continuing forum bringing together all of the resources that are available to the community. The Token Store worked with Oscar to help him reach his goal and organized the quarterly forums. The organizations represented at the forums are ProMéxico and promoters, The Token Store, Operation Feed, Operation Compassion, TerraCycle, the Children's Soccer Program, the Children's Orchestra Program, representatives from UNIVA University in Guadalajara for research, Jaltepec Hotel and Hospitality School, and Delegada Lola Carbajal of San Juan Cosalá.
An important alliance since day one has been with Operation Feed http://operationfeed.weebly.com/. They have given us exposure on their website and helped us get started with our own website, they have forwarded donations to us that they could not use, and we provide tokens for the people who assist them with their dispensa program every Thursday morning. Carol Curtis, the President of Operation Feed, also provides English classes and we pay tokens for attendance.
Since the Token Store only sells merchandise for tokens several community projects were created to give as many people as wanted a way to earn tokens though service in order to shop with us. Each person earns one token for every half hour worked on various projects and also for attending classes where skills are taught. Since September 24, 2015, our grand store opening, the community has spent 4,452 tokens for merchandise in our store. That represents a total of 2,226 hours of service in their community!
We are open every other Thursday from 10 to 12 and we have 22 women who work in the store in two hour shifts to set up, monitor the store, work the check out table, and tear down and store the merchandise after the store closes.
The first community project was the street cleaning project. It has grown over time and we now have 20 to 40 volunteers every Tuesday to sweep up and bag garbage around the village. This project has now formed an alliance with Feria Maestros del Arte http://www.mexicoartshow.com/index.html who several years ago started collecting recycled garbage to earn money to pay for transportation for the artists to attend the Feria. They have partnered with TerraCycle who has an office in Monterrey https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/pages/our-offices-1. Now every Tuesday the young children are given small bags to collect the specific recyclable garbage which includes chip bags, cookie and cracker wrappers, Bimbo plastic bags, old toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and boxes. We pay one token for each child's collection. Every other week Jerelyn Fyvolent comes to ProMéxico and enlists the help of several women who earn tokens to help sort the recyclable wrappers. We just recently collected ten kilos of waste in three weeks! This designated waste is kept out of landfills, we receive pesos for the separated waste from Maestros del Arte who in turn combine it with all the other waste that they collect and ship it to Monterrey where they receive pesos to assist the artisans and Terracycle repurposes this waste into usable items. It is a win-win for everyone.
Since the Token Store only sells merchandise for tokens several community projects were created to give as many people as wanted a way to earn tokens though service in order to shop with us. Each person earns one token for every half hour worked on various projects and also for attending classes where skills are taught. Since September 24, 2015, our grand store opening, the community has spent 4,452 tokens for merchandise in our store. That represents a total of 2,226 hours of service in their community!
We are open every other Thursday from 10 to 12 and we have 22 women who work in the store in two hour shifts to set up, monitor the store, work the check out table, and tear down and store the merchandise after the store closes.
The first community project was the street cleaning project. It has grown over time and we now have 20 to 40 volunteers every Tuesday to sweep up and bag garbage around the village. This project has now formed an alliance with Feria Maestros del Arte http://www.mexicoartshow.com/index.html who several years ago started collecting recycled garbage to earn money to pay for transportation for the artists to attend the Feria. They have partnered with TerraCycle who has an office in Monterrey https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/pages/our-offices-1. Now every Tuesday the young children are given small bags to collect the specific recyclable garbage which includes chip bags, cookie and cracker wrappers, Bimbo plastic bags, old toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes and boxes. We pay one token for each child's collection. Every other week Jerelyn Fyvolent comes to ProMéxico and enlists the help of several women who earn tokens to help sort the recyclable wrappers. We just recently collected ten kilos of waste in three weeks! This designated waste is kept out of landfills, we receive pesos for the separated waste from Maestros del Arte who in turn combine it with all the other waste that they collect and ship it to Monterrey where they receive pesos to assist the artisans and Terracycle repurposes this waste into usable items. It is a win-win for everyone.
Another community project to earn tokens is helping Anita of Anita's Animals http://www.anitasanimals.com/. She is located just below the Raquet Club in San Juan and every Monday and Friday two of our ladies help Anita for two hours in the care of the animals awaiting adoption.
Another animal project is the alliance made with Dee Mistrik and Operation Compassion https://www.facebook.com/OperacionCompasionLakesideMexico/. Their mission is to provide free spay/neuter clinics in the municipality of Jocotepec to poor Mexican families, street dogs, and others of limited means in order to reduce animal suffering and help the communities in which they work. The roll we play in this organization is that we pay tokens for several local volunteers who feed the street dogs twice a day, seven days a week in various areas around the village.
The most important alliance has been our connection to the expat community and the many people who have given donations, not only monetary but in gently used items. A special thanks to the people who live in the community of Steiner Ranch near Austin, Texas who have been a very valuable resource for many of the household items and children's toys. We also have several people who donate money monthly through recurring donations through PayPal to help pay for supplies and the food we sell, and many thanks to Timaree McCormick who scours the area for children's clothes and shoes since those are highly sought after and in short supply.
Many thanks to our current store team of Nancy Brown, Tony Trueblood, Terry and Barbara Boswell, and Jonnie Harker. Over the past year we have also had the help of Mary and Ron Prentkiewicz in the very beginning who were visiting from Montgomery, Alabama for six weeks and who helped sort and price all of the initial donations and Gary Silberberg who helped with store organization and display of merchandise.
Our greatest reward has come from the people of San Juan Cosalá. We have made many new friends and without their support and interest in this endeavor none of this would be possible. It is our goal that as time goes on there will be more opportunities made available to earn tokens while working in the community and learning new skills that will lead to a monetary reward.
Please pass the word to your friends and neighbors and share our website. Through your donations you share in our success. It is as easy as clicking on the PayPal button or contacting us.
It has truly been a "magical" year at the Magical Token Store!
The most important alliance has been our connection to the expat community and the many people who have given donations, not only monetary but in gently used items. A special thanks to the people who live in the community of Steiner Ranch near Austin, Texas who have been a very valuable resource for many of the household items and children's toys. We also have several people who donate money monthly through recurring donations through PayPal to help pay for supplies and the food we sell, and many thanks to Timaree McCormick who scours the area for children's clothes and shoes since those are highly sought after and in short supply.
Many thanks to our current store team of Nancy Brown, Tony Trueblood, Terry and Barbara Boswell, and Jonnie Harker. Over the past year we have also had the help of Mary and Ron Prentkiewicz in the very beginning who were visiting from Montgomery, Alabama for six weeks and who helped sort and price all of the initial donations and Gary Silberberg who helped with store organization and display of merchandise.
Our greatest reward has come from the people of San Juan Cosalá. We have made many new friends and without their support and interest in this endeavor none of this would be possible. It is our goal that as time goes on there will be more opportunities made available to earn tokens while working in the community and learning new skills that will lead to a monetary reward.
Please pass the word to your friends and neighbors and share our website. Through your donations you share in our success. It is as easy as clicking on the PayPal button or contacting us.
It has truly been a "magical" year at the Magical Token Store!
The Token Store Teams with ProMéxico at Camp for Kids
July 18 - 29, 2016
What an exhausting but fun two weeks! ProMéxico for the third year offered a two-week camp for the disadvantaged children of San Juan Cosalá. The camp was made up of 50 children, aged 5-12. The Token Store volunteers were asked to participate, and we gladly accepted.
The Token Store raised the seed money for the camp with the help of some generous donors. Nancy took on the job of coming up with the craft projects that used recycled materials. This was in keeping with the theme of the camp, “Caring for our World”. She also took hundreds of pictures during the two weeks, as well as teaching the children some basic English words and one English song.
Terry and Barb were amazing at heading the sports program for the older kids. Besides the children playing their beloved “fútbol”, they were introduced to many new and varied games. Terry and Barb’s enthusiasm and boundless energy were infectious. Their sweet dog, Casey, became the mascot of the camp and got lots of attention from the children.
Jonnie took on the role of computer guru. Besides finding and downloading two environmental movies in Spanish, she put together the wonderful slide show of the camp. You will find the link at the bottom. The children saw the slide show on the last day of camp and were thrilled to see themselves participating in all the activities. Jonnie also took some great pictures of the kids.
Tony came to camp several days to help the older children paint, decorate, and hang basura (trash) boards in San Juan.
The list of activities at camp is long. The children participated in an art program, headed by Maria Blanco. She came up with many projects that focused on the children’s creativity. In addition, she taught the younger children games and relays. Maria was assisted by JuEun Lee, a cute Korean volunteer working with ProMéxico. She loved the children and the children loved her.
The girls learned belly dancing from Yanette Vazquez, an adorable 15-year old from the United States. Yanette was in San Juan Cosalá for her quinceañera and to visit her grandmother and extended family.
The ProMéxico promoters assisted with the craft projects and helped out in various other ways. We could always count on them to help with translation so we could understand our young charges.
Dee, Jerry, Hal, and Mina, from Operation Compassion, brought abused and neglected dogs to highlight the need for caring for animals and the importance of the spay and neuter program. The children got to pet and feed the animals.
Paul Brier came to camp to introduce the children to a variety of musical instruments. The children got to sing along with Spanish songs and play rhythm instruments.
Lucia Castellanos arrived at the camp with all the ingredients for cookies and a trail mix. The children learned to combine the ingredients, and, of course, eat the final products.
The girls enjoyed making jewelry with Nancy. They came up with some cute designs, and wore their creations with pride.
The older kids made environmental posters and also loved painting and decorating the basura boards.
Eating popcorn and watching the two environmental movies was not only a quiet time after all the physical activity, but also taught the children more about their world and how to take care of it.
The younger children participated in a scavenger hunt with Maria and Oscar, coordinator of the San Juan Cosalá ProMéxico Program. Two teams were formed and the children answered riddles from the hints provided to go to the next place in town. They were rewarded with a “treasure” at the end.
Lupita Cornejo taught the children about healthy eating. The children learned that taking care of their bodies was as important as taking care of the other world inhabitants.
Sixty guava trees were donated to the camp. Lola Carbajal Ornelas , the Delegada of San Juan Cosalá provided advice and suggestions for planting them. The older children planted trees along the malecón, with the help of a village employee provided by Lola. We had one boy whose father was a gardener. He knew about plants and planting and took on the role of jefe (boss) for the group. As the children didn’t have time to plant all the trees, the remaining ones were gifted to the village for planting.
Oscar Limon was the overseer of the camp, and made sure it ran smoothly. He kept us and the children on track.
The children were encouraged to work together, share, and include everyone. The camp counselors looked each day for children demonstrating these characteristics. Their names were put into a jar, and at the end of the day, a raffle was held for small prizes.
Each day Jonnie separated art and craft projects and put them into 50 reusable bags, one for each child. These bags, which are the environmental-friendly alternative to plastic bags, were donated by eSun Energy.
We were so impressed with the participants of the camp. They were well behaved, enthusiastic, appreciative, and certainly happy children. We left at the end of two weeks with many new, young friends. It is so rewarding to work directly with the people of San Juan Cosalá. We find this in the Token Store and now at camp with the children.
We want to thank all who contributed with money, time, and donations. This was a very positive experience for 50 lucky boys and girls of San Juan Cosalá.
You can watch the slide show below for all the fun and smiles!
Nancy Brown
The Token Store raised the seed money for the camp with the help of some generous donors. Nancy took on the job of coming up with the craft projects that used recycled materials. This was in keeping with the theme of the camp, “Caring for our World”. She also took hundreds of pictures during the two weeks, as well as teaching the children some basic English words and one English song.
Terry and Barb were amazing at heading the sports program for the older kids. Besides the children playing their beloved “fútbol”, they were introduced to many new and varied games. Terry and Barb’s enthusiasm and boundless energy were infectious. Their sweet dog, Casey, became the mascot of the camp and got lots of attention from the children.
Jonnie took on the role of computer guru. Besides finding and downloading two environmental movies in Spanish, she put together the wonderful slide show of the camp. You will find the link at the bottom. The children saw the slide show on the last day of camp and were thrilled to see themselves participating in all the activities. Jonnie also took some great pictures of the kids.
Tony came to camp several days to help the older children paint, decorate, and hang basura (trash) boards in San Juan.
The list of activities at camp is long. The children participated in an art program, headed by Maria Blanco. She came up with many projects that focused on the children’s creativity. In addition, she taught the younger children games and relays. Maria was assisted by JuEun Lee, a cute Korean volunteer working with ProMéxico. She loved the children and the children loved her.
The girls learned belly dancing from Yanette Vazquez, an adorable 15-year old from the United States. Yanette was in San Juan Cosalá for her quinceañera and to visit her grandmother and extended family.
The ProMéxico promoters assisted with the craft projects and helped out in various other ways. We could always count on them to help with translation so we could understand our young charges.
Dee, Jerry, Hal, and Mina, from Operation Compassion, brought abused and neglected dogs to highlight the need for caring for animals and the importance of the spay and neuter program. The children got to pet and feed the animals.
Paul Brier came to camp to introduce the children to a variety of musical instruments. The children got to sing along with Spanish songs and play rhythm instruments.
Lucia Castellanos arrived at the camp with all the ingredients for cookies and a trail mix. The children learned to combine the ingredients, and, of course, eat the final products.
The girls enjoyed making jewelry with Nancy. They came up with some cute designs, and wore their creations with pride.
The older kids made environmental posters and also loved painting and decorating the basura boards.
Eating popcorn and watching the two environmental movies was not only a quiet time after all the physical activity, but also taught the children more about their world and how to take care of it.
The younger children participated in a scavenger hunt with Maria and Oscar, coordinator of the San Juan Cosalá ProMéxico Program. Two teams were formed and the children answered riddles from the hints provided to go to the next place in town. They were rewarded with a “treasure” at the end.
Lupita Cornejo taught the children about healthy eating. The children learned that taking care of their bodies was as important as taking care of the other world inhabitants.
Sixty guava trees were donated to the camp. Lola Carbajal Ornelas , the Delegada of San Juan Cosalá provided advice and suggestions for planting them. The older children planted trees along the malecón, with the help of a village employee provided by Lola. We had one boy whose father was a gardener. He knew about plants and planting and took on the role of jefe (boss) for the group. As the children didn’t have time to plant all the trees, the remaining ones were gifted to the village for planting.
Oscar Limon was the overseer of the camp, and made sure it ran smoothly. He kept us and the children on track.
The children were encouraged to work together, share, and include everyone. The camp counselors looked each day for children demonstrating these characteristics. Their names were put into a jar, and at the end of the day, a raffle was held for small prizes.
Each day Jonnie separated art and craft projects and put them into 50 reusable bags, one for each child. These bags, which are the environmental-friendly alternative to plastic bags, were donated by eSun Energy.
We were so impressed with the participants of the camp. They were well behaved, enthusiastic, appreciative, and certainly happy children. We left at the end of two weeks with many new, young friends. It is so rewarding to work directly with the people of San Juan Cosalá. We find this in the Token Store and now at camp with the children.
We want to thank all who contributed with money, time, and donations. This was a very positive experience for 50 lucky boys and girls of San Juan Cosalá.
You can watch the slide show below for all the fun and smiles!
Nancy Brown
Amigas Jewels comes to the Token Store
The Token Store would like to thank members of Amigas Jewels for the earrings they made and donated to the store. Susy Wright, Julie Hensley, Lydia Cortez, and Debra Strickland got together one afternoon and made over 100 pair of earrings specifically to be sold at the Token Store. On June 16th Susy and Julie joined us at the Token Store to help sell their beautiful creations. They wanted to bring a little sparkle to the lives of the women in San Juan Cosalá.
The wonderful assortment of earrings also brought an interest in learning the art of jewelry making. A new class and formation of a jewelry cooperative will begin in August. Be on the lookout in the future for some of their creations on sale around Lakeside.
The wonderful assortment of earrings also brought an interest in learning the art of jewelry making. A new class and formation of a jewelry cooperative will begin in August. Be on the lookout in the future for some of their creations on sale around Lakeside.
Giving a Hand Up - Not a Hand Out
That is the motto of the Token Store. We have items available in our store to buy for tokens earned by working on projects in the community and participating in classes. We have made many friends in San Juan along the way while providing a means for "buying" needed items.
As friends, we listen and as any friend would do for another we try to help when we can.
Erika is a young woman, wife, and mother of a five-year-old son. She participates in the street cleaning every Tuesday and earns three tokens each time. If you have driven through there lately you might have noticed how clean the streets are these days thanks to the 25 to 30 volunteers every Tuesday who sweep and bag garbage in the streets. She also works in the store every other week and earns four tokens.
Several months ago she went into kidney failure and had to have surgery to insert catheters for peritoneal dialysis. She has to have dialysis four times a day, seven days a week and is on the waiting list for a new kidney(s) but the best estimate is about a five year wait. She was telling me about the routine and how much easier it would be to have a microwave to heat the saline fluid she has to use and asked if the store had one. I told her we would see what we could do to help her out.
We put the word out about this need and once again the generous people at lakeside came to our rescue. Last Tuesday Erika paid 15 tokens for a used microwave. She had worked 7 1/2 hours to pay for it and my guess is that it will free up about 45 minutes of her day, every day. Just think, that's a little over five hours a week. It doesn't seem like much but over the next several years while waiting for that new kidney we have been able to provide her with a little more free time to focus on other needs of this young woman and her family.
What are friends for?
Jonnie Harker
As friends, we listen and as any friend would do for another we try to help when we can.
Erika is a young woman, wife, and mother of a five-year-old son. She participates in the street cleaning every Tuesday and earns three tokens each time. If you have driven through there lately you might have noticed how clean the streets are these days thanks to the 25 to 30 volunteers every Tuesday who sweep and bag garbage in the streets. She also works in the store every other week and earns four tokens.
Several months ago she went into kidney failure and had to have surgery to insert catheters for peritoneal dialysis. She has to have dialysis four times a day, seven days a week and is on the waiting list for a new kidney(s) but the best estimate is about a five year wait. She was telling me about the routine and how much easier it would be to have a microwave to heat the saline fluid she has to use and asked if the store had one. I told her we would see what we could do to help her out.
We put the word out about this need and once again the generous people at lakeside came to our rescue. Last Tuesday Erika paid 15 tokens for a used microwave. She had worked 7 1/2 hours to pay for it and my guess is that it will free up about 45 minutes of her day, every day. Just think, that's a little over five hours a week. It doesn't seem like much but over the next several years while waiting for that new kidney we have been able to provide her with a little more free time to focus on other needs of this young woman and her family.
What are friends for?
Jonnie Harker
Update on the Token Store, March 10, 2016
First, we want to welcome two wonderful people to our team. Barb and Terry Boswell are now living full-time in México and have been with us a few weeks. They are very committed to this project, and have already made major contributions. Barb’s friendly personality and her willingness to speak and improve her Spanish have won the hearts of the Mexican people we work with. She is a tireless worker and is not afraid to get her hands dirty. You may have seen her Tuesday picking up trash along the carretera in San Juan Cosalá, with one of the clean-up teams. Terry has wonderful ideas and he follows through with his ideas to make them happen. He is working on getting the word out about the Token Store. Flyers with information about the Token store are being printed and he and Barb will be handing them out. He also has amazing organizational skills. He has installed shelves in our storage room at ProMéxico and really has the room whipped into shape. In addition, he helped with installing an interactive white board in another room at ProMéxico. (The white board was bought by ProMéxico and will be used for classes.) We are so excited to have Barb and Terry on the team.
We had such fun today at the Magical Token Store. Beans and rice have been such popular items that we decided they would be part of the raffle. Also in today’s raffle, we had 13 jars of peanut butter, a hair dryer, an iron, a really nice slow cooker, a stroller, and a stereo system. The raffle was not for a chance to win these items, but was for a chance to have the opportunity to BUY these items, with tokens, of course. The people love the raffle. They decided to increase the suspense by picking not the first name drawn, but sometimes the third, or the fourth, or the fifth. Then there was excitement and happiness for the winners. The very best thing about being a part of this project is to get to work with these energetic and happy people. Jonnie is off on a trip to Guatemala with Faith In Practice, helping even more people, but she will be back in a few weeks. We miss her, but are especially glad to have Barb and Terry to take up the slack. Tony is getting more men involved in projects. He has signed up men to paint a room in ProMéxico. They will be earning tokens for their work. Others in the village are earning tokens for taking sewing or English classes. We are giving tokens to people who twice a day feed the street dogs in San Juan Cosalá. We now have 5 teams who go to different parts of the village for the weekly cleanup. Anita, of Anita’s Animals is very pleased with the help she is getting from the ladies, as they earn tokens. Operation Feed is giving tokens to the local people who help with their projects. ProMéxico is using tokens to help pay for the maintenance of the building. We continue to look for projects that will get more people involved and more tokens into the community. Thank you. Nancy, Tony, Jonnie, Barb, and Terry |
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New Merchandise!!!January 2016
Nancy returned from the U.S. again with her car loaded down with household items including kitchenware and appliances, bedding, school supplies, and shoes including over 100 pair of children's shoes to restock the Token Store. Tony's brother, who also lives in the Austin area, met Tony in Laredo and also drove down with a van full of goodies. Our heartfelt thanks go out to the generous people in the Austin, Texas area for all of their donations to the Token Store. Nancy's Austin garage is still full of donated items that would not fit in the car and just waiting for her to return in April with another carload. The grapevine in San Juan Cosalá was alive and well and people were lined up to shop at 10AM. We had kept the items secret from the workers in the store so that everyone had an equal opportunity to shop and not put things aside early. We elected to put out only the new shoes, new kitchen, and new bedding arrivals and not mix it with the older merchandise. As you can see from the before and after pictures almost everything sold out in the two hours that the store was open. We had a number of electric appliances; three blenders, two juicers, one fan, one slow cooker, one coffee pot, and one iron that we knew would be popular and so we decided to have a raffle for those items. Anyone who was interested in those items put their name on a list and at the end of the store hours we had a drawing for the lucky winners and they paid in tokens for the item. For instance, the blenders went for 15 tokens each which are equal to 7 1/2 hours of work to purchase and we had 21 people interested! What a great day! We took in 445 tokens which amount to 222.5 hours of total work! The tokens are earned by working in the store every other week, neighborhood cleanup every Tuesday, and working with Operation Feed and participating in other projects and classes. We have started working with Anita's Animals which is a non-profit, no kill animal shelter and have provided Anita help with ladies walking, bathing, and loving the animals and being paid in tokens. We are busy working on other projects for more community participation and soon we will be "Painting the Town" for tokens. Once again, we thank all of those who have helped to make the store a success and helping us give a "hand up" to the people of San Juan Cosalá. Nancy, Tony, and Jonnie |
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Feliz Navidad - 2015
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Happy Holidays! We at the token store have been working really hard to help make a brighter Christmas for the people of San Juan Cosalá and we could not have done it without all the donations from the expat community.
We have 22 ladies who work for two hours every other week in the Token Store setting up, pricing items, accepting tokens for purchases, and tearing down for which they earn four tokens each. One of our projects for earning tokens is the community cleanup. It has become so popular that we now have about 60 people every Tuesday and they have formed six groups and spread out around the village cleaning up the trash from the streets. They work from 9 to 10:30 and receive three tokens each to be used in the Token Store. With Christmas approaching we were able to lay in a large supply of donated toys, books, and Christmas decorations. We had our first "holiday" sale on December 3rd with a special room just for toys and books which was a big hit and we sold out of most everything there. On December 17th we had a special sale with two pairs of shoes for the price of one and three clothing items for the price of one and reduced token prices on almost everything in the store. We had more donations of books and toys and a large donation of Christmas decorations that now will adorn quite a few homes in SJC. We even had a special rack of beautiful party dresses for the ladies and we even sold a beautiful outfit for a bride complete with veil. We also have a small grocery section with donated canned goods and we have a donor who provides money so that we can buy beans and rice in bulk and other popular food items that can be purchased with tokens. You should see the beans and rice fly off the shelf! As you can see from the pictures, we had quite a crowd! The lines were long, arms were full of merchandise, and the smiles were huge. On December 17th we took in 583 tokens which equals 291.5 working hours! We are truly living up to our motto "Giving a hand up – not a hand out". The people of San Juan Cosalá have come out in record numbers and are working hard to earn tokens while participating in bettering their community. The Token Store is successful beyond our wildest dreams since opening on August 13th. In the coming year we have some new projects starting where more tokens can spread through the community so stay tuned for news of these exciting projects. Thanks again to everyone who has been so generous with their gently used items and their donations of pesos. If you are ever in San Juan, please come by and visit us on a Thursday. We are open every other week and our next store date is December 31st. Have a safe holiday and a prosperous New Year! Jonnie, Nancy, Tony, and Gary |
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TOKEN STORE UPDATE - October 2015
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The Magical Token Store has a new home! We are so grateful to Gerardo for helping us get started by letting us use his restaurant garden as our store and to the Delegado in San Juan Cosalá for letting us store all of our merchandise in the municipal building. We have now moved to ProMéxico where they generously offered us a secure storage space on site and space for our store. Last Thursday was our first day to be open in the new space and it is just perfect. We had a big day with shoppers and took in a whopping 105 tokens for items in the store. By starting community projects like the neighborhood cleanup we are getting more tokens out into the community and giving more people an opportunity to shop in the store. I saw several familiar faces from our first neighborhood cleanup taking advantage of the tokens they had earned for all their hard work.
It seems that the most popular items are household items and shoes. If you have any extra household items cluttering up your home, we would love to clutter up our new home instead. Nancy is in the U.S. and having so much fun going to garage sales and receiving donations from her community that I don't think her car can hold it all for the trip back. I even heard she picked up a small bicycle with training wheels for a whopping $5!!!! So, good news all around. We are open every other Thursday so if you are in San Juan please drop in for a visit. You won't be able to shop but you can see what is being accomplished by your generous donations. Pro Mexico is just across the street from the plaza and look for our sign. We look forward to seeing you. Nancy, Tony, and Jonnie |
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The Token Store is Ready to Open - August 2015
Children and adults who take part in community service work or in educational opportunities in SJC now earn tokens which can be spent at the new store. Nancy Brown is the leader of this project and has based it on the store that operates in Tepehua. She used her contacts in Austin, Texas and locally to help provide wonderful items for the store. Through the generosity of Gerardo and Yarida Tolentino, Nancy and her team has a space for the store.The government representative in town, Rosendo Rameno, has provided a storage space.
The store opens in the new restaurant opened by Gerardo and Yarida. It's just down the block from Viv México. You'll see the lovely pink building with a restaurant and a paper store housed within. On Thursdays, the day their businesses are closed, the couple is turning the restaurant patio over to the Token Store.
The store opens in the new restaurant opened by Gerardo and Yarida. It's just down the block from Viv México. You'll see the lovely pink building with a restaurant and a paper store housed within. On Thursdays, the day their businesses are closed, the couple is turning the restaurant patio over to the Token Store.
How It Started
The token store will open on August 13th at 10 a.m. This is after countless hours of work by the very motivated team of volunteers. This is a different kind of store. Items cannot be bought with money, only with tokens. Tokens can be earned by Mexican residents of San Juan Cosalá for participating in projects that improve the community or improve an individual's skill set or knowledge. The goal of this new venture is to encourage the people of San Juan Cosalá to work and/or learn to improve the lives of their families and their community, and, in doing so, they receive tokens to "buy" items at the store.
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We know you have many ways to donate your "extras", but this is a great cause, too. So if you're cleaning out your closets or finding a bargain to share, think of the Token Store.
The most disadvantaged people in San Juan Cosalá are earning tokens by taking classes, working in the Community Garden, and doing community service. They are very excited about being able to "buy" something they need. Think about children's books, school supplies, shoes, kitchen supplies, and sheets/towels. Thank you Contact Nancy Brown via email using the link below. |
The organizers of this new store are Nancy Brown and Tony Trueblood. They are being assisted by volunteers Jonnie Harker, Ron Prentkiewicz, and Janine and Al Kirkland. Janinie and Al will be responsible for organizing projects that earn tokens. These may include a malecon clean-up, a carretera clean-up, and painting over graffiti on walls and buildings. We are looking forward to the projects these two creative people come up with. Janine is also a graphic designer and will be creating our one-of-a-kind tokens.
Nancy, Tony, and Jonnie are involved with the initial organization and management of the store; they will be providing the training and support to evidently have this run by the San Juan people themselves. Nancy was especially grateful to Mary and Ron who spent a good deal of their vacation time helping to sort, price, and package the donations. Many people and groups have come together to make this possible. Gerardo Tolentino Zamora and his wife Yadira Rios Guzman have offered their beautiful restaurant in San Juan Cosalá to house the store. It will operate on Thursdays, when the restaurant is closed. The Delegado has been very supportive and provided a place for storage in the government building across the street from the restaurant. Projects which help the people of San Juan Cosalá are receiving additional support from the token store. Each group -- Soccer Teams, Children's Orchestra, ProMéxico, and Pathways are being given tokens to use as incentives in their own programs. |
The Magical Store by Nancy Brown
We had a great couple of days, both the set-up and the grand opening went far better than we had anticipated. We evaluated after each day and made changes.
On August 9th, we had a sign-up for residents of San Juan Cosalá to work in the store. We had planned on 20 people, 10 to set up the store and work, and they would then be relieved by 10 more to work and then tear down the store. Before we could get packed up and leave the Plaza, we had 25 signed up. On Wednesday Tony, Jonnie, Mary, Ron, and I arrived at the Plaza and none of our workers were there. For about 5 minutes, we were afraid none of those signed up would show up. Our concerns were unfounded. At nine o’clock, we had the original 25 and about every sister, brother, son, daughter, or cousin they could bring with them. We decided to sign more up and see how it went. We would “employ” the best workers. So, for set-up and tear-down all were paid with tokens. From that practice time, we had chosen 12 for each shift. The first shift would come at 9:00 and set up the store. The second shift would relieve them at 11:00 and tear down the store at 1:00. We also selected a boss (jefa) for each shift, and for the first shift, we also designated a cashier (person who collects the tokens and bags the purchases). We are training several women to be pricers; they are learning the system of pricing. All the women took their job very seriously. The other workers watched to make sure nothing walked off and also straightened and kept things in order. So, for most of the time, we (our team of volunteers) sat around and watched the women work, which is exactly as we wanted it to be. They have been told that in a short period of time, the store would be turned over completely to them. When Jonnie announced this, there were smiles all around. Speaking of Jonnie, since her Spanish is so good, she had to be the bad guy. We had people showing up wanting to work. Jonnie had to tell them we had enough people, but there would be other projects for which they could earn tokens. The people shopping in the store were very enthusiastic. We found that the most-wanted items were kitchen and household items. John and Dee Mistrik, had brought down a large donation of these items and they were gone on the first day. Second seemed to be shoes, with toys and children’s clothes coming in a close third. As we were finishing up with the workers in the Plaza on opening day, the Delegado came over. We clapped, took pictures with him, and gave him some tokens to use for his own projects. We have told him he is our angel. Speaking of “angels”, Gerardo and Yadira, owners of the charming restaurant we are using for the token store, have been wonderful. They let us come in and take over their space. We try to leave it as neat and clean as we found it. By the way, think about supporting this new restaurant, Bonjour Paris. Look for a pink building about a block from the square, Porfirio Diaz #53, west of the square, and on the lake side of the street. We have eaten there. The food is good and you will have a chance to meet this delightful couple. Their restaurant is open from 3:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Closed on Thursdays--lucky for us. Yadira is an artist and you can buy her painted roof tiles and probably her paintings. Sorry, I already bought the cutest tile for my kitchen, but there are many other choices. Getting the store going has been a lot of work. Paul has not had a home-cooked meal in weeks, Jonnie is falling behind in her real work, and Tony with his continuous smile seems never to tire. And, of course, Mary and Ron never got to Tonala. I have loved working with these people. We have laughed a lot and have worked so well together as a team. Janine and Al have agreed to work on projects for which tokens can be earned, and Janine, who is a graphic designer has created the “official” token that is beautiful. These will replace the, let’s just say, “less than professional” temporary tokens. She has put the name of the store on the token. We had a contest to name the store (the prize, of course, was tokens). The new name is La Tienda del Magica Boleta. And I think that translates to The Shop of the Magical Token. And I can’t forget Carol Curtis. She has been there continuously taking pictures, writing up great descriptions of what we are doing, and sending them out to get support for our cause. We also have had two very generous donors. One has made a donation to help cover the costs of the store’s start-up and another is making a monthly monetary donation to help us buy the basic food dispenses to “sell” at the store. Thank you both so much for your very real support of what we are attempting to do. Moving forward, we will be working to get donations of “stuff” to restock and store, and, hopefully, get the word out about what we are trying to do. Tokens have been given to the Soccer Team Coaches, the Orchestra teachers, ProMéxico, the organization that has classes to help women learn skills that can result in micro-businesses, and to Pat Baxter of the Pathways Program, who will give these to the schools she works with. Our goal, of course, is to give the unemployed or underemployed residents in San Juan Cosalá an opportunity, not a hand-out, to work for their community, to learn a new skill set, or to take a class that could lead to a job. We want them to take pride in knowing they are contributing to their community, and that they are improving the lives of their families. |
"Nancy,
Thank you so, so much for asking me to be a part of your project. The concept is exactly what I think that community in particular needs. For too long they have been the recipients of "handouts" and though what they receive is needed and given with good intentions what they need/want more is pride in working for their community and being able to see the rewards. Even though the last two days I came home and basically passed out it was a great. I didn't realize what a mental/physical slug I have become! I'm looking forward to working with the ladies and making new friends in San Juan." --Jonnie-- 
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