MONROE - Leftover spiral notebooks and unused pencils that might have ended up in the trash can at the end of the school year found their way to schoolchildren in Mexico, thanks to the efforts of local Boy Scouts and Lions Club members.
Boy Scout Troop 101 collected unused or slightly used school supplies, such as spirals, notebook paper, folders, pencils, crayons and even some backpacks, at the end of the school year last spring, explained Gayle Stamm of Wisconsin Lions Mission to Mexico, a group within the Lions Club organization.
"The Boy Scouts needed a project," she said. The Wisconsin Lions Mission to Mexico group has about 20 to 30 members, with four of them living locally. Since they make three trips to Mexico per year, it seemed like a natural fit to take extra school supplies to those who could use them.
The Scouts asked for donations at Monroe Middle School at the end of the year. Items collected were stored until Lions members transported the donations in a school bus.
Stamm, her husband John Roundy and brother and sister-in-law Glen and Louise Spring of Albany left Beloit in a caravan of two school buses, two fire trucks, once ambulance and a 34-foot Lions trailer.
Three days and 1,500 miles later, they arrived in Brownsville, Texas. There, the two buses and two fire trucks were turned over to the Lions Club of Maramoros, Mexico, which is just across the border from Brownsville.
The Lions there also operate two schools which they support for families who cannot afford to send their children to public schools. One school has 120 kindergartners, while the other has grades one through six. The schools have 360 students attending in the morning, and an additional 360 students in the afternoon.
The Lions group makes a mission trip, often in a school bus, three times a year, Stamm said. Every year, Mission to Mexico members take donated items, including eyeglasses, emergency vehicles, medical and school supplies collected by Lions members from around the state to Mexico. It's on these trips Lions members take all the used eyeglasses the club is famous for collecting and distribute them to individuals in need.
"We went in a caravan," Stamm said. "My brother drove a school bus, my husband drove a fire truck, my sister-in-law drove the ambulance," Stamm said, who drove a car in the caravan.
Other Lions trips have delivered eyeglasses to other communities in Mexico, some as far as south of Mexico City.
After completing its mission at Matamoros, the ambulance was donated to a school for handicapped children in Mexico and other donated items were taken to an orphanage.
Boy Scout Troop 101 collected unused or slightly used school supplies, such as spirals, notebook paper, folders, pencils, crayons and even some backpacks, at the end of the school year last spring, explained Gayle Stamm of Wisconsin Lions Mission to Mexico, a group within the Lions Club organization.
"The Boy Scouts needed a project," she said. The Wisconsin Lions Mission to Mexico group has about 20 to 30 members, with four of them living locally. Since they make three trips to Mexico per year, it seemed like a natural fit to take extra school supplies to those who could use them.
The Scouts asked for donations at Monroe Middle School at the end of the year. Items collected were stored until Lions members transported the donations in a school bus.
Stamm, her husband John Roundy and brother and sister-in-law Glen and Louise Spring of Albany left Beloit in a caravan of two school buses, two fire trucks, once ambulance and a 34-foot Lions trailer.
Three days and 1,500 miles later, they arrived in Brownsville, Texas. There, the two buses and two fire trucks were turned over to the Lions Club of Maramoros, Mexico, which is just across the border from Brownsville.
The Lions there also operate two schools which they support for families who cannot afford to send their children to public schools. One school has 120 kindergartners, while the other has grades one through six. The schools have 360 students attending in the morning, and an additional 360 students in the afternoon.
The Lions group makes a mission trip, often in a school bus, three times a year, Stamm said. Every year, Mission to Mexico members take donated items, including eyeglasses, emergency vehicles, medical and school supplies collected by Lions members from around the state to Mexico. It's on these trips Lions members take all the used eyeglasses the club is famous for collecting and distribute them to individuals in need.
"We went in a caravan," Stamm said. "My brother drove a school bus, my husband drove a fire truck, my sister-in-law drove the ambulance," Stamm said, who drove a car in the caravan.
Other Lions trips have delivered eyeglasses to other communities in Mexico, some as far as south of Mexico City.
After completing its mission at Matamoros, the ambulance was donated to a school for handicapped children in Mexico and other donated items were taken to an orphanage.