Local fundraisers for Mexico earthquake relief

IC photo/Laura Vallejo

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Astrid Ortega displays one of the messages that people wrote on the donations collected for the Mexico earthquake relief.

SALT LAKE CITY —  Local efforts are underway to send supplies to Mexico to help relieve the suffering caused by the Sept. 19 earthquake. The quake, which measured 7.1 on the seismic scale, killed more than 400 people as structures collapsed.

The Sept. 19 quake was the second the country suffered in two weeks; a third quake followed the second a few days later.

The US geological survey said the epicenter of the Sept. 19 was about 80 miles southeast of Mexico City in the state of Puebla. Rescue efforts are continuing to locate survivors and retrieve bodies trapped inside the collapsed buildings.

After this tragedy, people in Utah responded to the call for help.

Without focusing on religion, status or country of origin, people started collecting food, water, emergency kits, diapers, hygiene items, blankets, teddy bears for the children and other items.

Mujeres en Otro Idioma, a Utah nonprofit organization, partnered with the Mexican nonprofit Mujeres en Movimiento al Rescate de Mexico (Women in Movement to Rescue Mexico) to establish collection centers in Utah and in Las Vegas, Nevada.

 “They are collecting the donations and will send them directly to the people who are in need, reaching communities that unfortunately have not received much help yet,” said Minerva Huerta, a Cathedral of the Madeleine parishioner who participated in the collection effort.

Huerta and her husband have gone out to collect donations from people who could not bring them to the donation places; they also have offered their house as a collection point.

 “I am from Mexico I wanted to help. … I wanted to be active, not just sit down and see what is happening,” said Huerta, adding that “praying is always OK, but we couldn’t just do that. We need to put our faith in action. God is calling us to become one.”

One of the relief effort organizers, Astrid Ortega, said that like Huerta, she could not just sit down and wait for the tragedy to disappear.

“If I was one of the people that was buried in the debris, or a family member or a friend, I would like someone to rescue me, someone to be looking for me,” Ortega said. “I was very moved by this situation. Life can change any minute. We are now in a position that we can help.”

The supplies they collected will be sent to Mexico on Sept. 29.

Saint Joseph Parish in Ogden also ignited a light of hope for the people in Mexico “as a respond to the call of solidarity to our brothers and sisters who are suffering and need our help,” said Fr. Omar Ontiveros, pastor.

The parish community put together a food festival on Sept. 24, at which more than $6,000 was collected for donation to the relief efforts through Catholic Relief Services.

“The majority of our Hispanic community are Mexicans; we even have some parishioners that have family members who have been directly affected by the earthquake,” Fr. Ontiveros said.

In Utah, people are continuing to organize ways to help. For example, there will be a festival on Sept. 30 at the Centro Civico Mexicano, with proceeds going directly to the Mexican relief.

“We invite everyone to come. We thank everyone in advance for their support and willingness to help our Mexico,” said Karina del Castillo, a Madeleine Cathedral parishioner who originally is from Argentina and who is involved with the festival.