First of all we would like to thank each and every one of you that has contributed to helping the food bank grow to feed more people and provide additional needed services to the community.

The food bank is currently dispensing approximately 1200 bags of food per month. We currently give rice, beans, flour and oil. As we gain more of a handle on the actual needs of the community we will be able to add other staples to our food bags.

We our making some changes that will help us to identify the most needy families and make sure they are taken care of. One example of this is that we currently give out about 100 bags in front of the catholic church in Gavilanes. That is twice a month.

If you pull up with a truck full of food bags and start handing them out then people will take them whether they need them or not. We are changing our distribution for Gavilanes and Los Arcos. People will come directly to the food bank to pick up their food.

What we have found is that way only people that are hungry and really need the food will make the effort to come and get it. We have been experiencing this recently in Las Manitas. In good weather we give out about 50 bags on Thursdays in Las Manitas. When it's hot, those that don't really need the food won't come and that has cut our distribution there in half. That gives us the ability to put more and different food in the bags.

Each Saturday we deliver water and food to the arroyo and to the elderly. We will continue doing the door to door on Saturdays to the eldery and to the people in the arroyo. They have a definite need. Our water tank on our truck holds 300 gallons of drinking water. We run out quickly every week. We are working with other groups and organizations to provide the food needs to compliment the other wonderful services those groups provide.

We currently are spending approximately 25,000 pesos a month on food distribution alone. We have two main benefactors who each contribute $400 monthly and then we have approx. 120 businesses that have pledged 100 pesos per month. When we go to collect from the businesses a lot of them do not have even 100 pesos as business is way down. We are collecting about 70%. We would also like to thank Monty Robbins our benefactor who pays the rent on our building each month.

We have a volunteer program for collections as it is extremely difficult for 1 or 2 people to get to all the businesses for collections. Our volunteers are asked to take 5-6 businesses and be responsible for collecting from them each month. They have all month to collect and can do so at their leisure so it makes it pretty easy for them. We could use about 15 more volunteers.

Store sales and donations of items to sell have been way down this summer. It never ceases to amaze me though that on Monday when we need to place a food order we might not have a dime but if we order anyway, on Wednesday when the order comes in, we have the money. We are extremely grateful for that.

Our other programs. Those of you who follow us on Facebook at ADOPT SAN FELIPE and ADOPT SAN FELIPE THE KIDS and those of you who have been in our store, know about some of our other programs. For those of you who haven't had an opportunity to make it in or aren't aware of them, here is a little briefing.

Our program for handicapped kids. Paty Orozco has done wonderful things with these programs.We have had great response to our programs. We are almost finished with our therapy room. It has taken us the entire time we have been open to get the therapy room complete. We have relied solely on donations of labor and most materials.

In the fall we have 4 physical therapists and special needs nurses who have volunteered to do therapy and also teach the mothers and volunteers. This is awesome. We also have a volunteer that will be doing Reiki and one that will be doing reflexology for feet, hands and ears.

One of our local Drs.works with our kids on his ranch doing equine (horse) therapy. Sessions are 3 times per week and only cost 100 pesos a week per child. All over the world they have had phenomenal success with children that have special needs.

We currently have about 20 families that have special needs children. We have kids with blindness, autism, CF, West Syndrome, Dandy Walker Syndrome, Downs Syndrome, Microcephalia etc. It is extremely rewarding to be able to offer these programs because services for special needs kids just aren't available in our area.

We are working with the Rotary Club of San Felipe to hopefully provide special funding to set up transportation to the Telethon in Guadalajara for special testing, therapies and evaluations. We had our first child go this year and she received 50 different tests and evaluations over a 15 day period. This is fantastic as some of these children are 10, 12 or 14 years old and have never been tested due to lack of money.

All of our donations and sales of clothes and shoes goes to fund the kids programs. We give out diapers, formula and wipes and have arrangements with a local pharmacy to give 50% discounts on medications.We also give out clothes to those that cannot afford them.

We also have a sponsor a child program for the handicapped children. We try to find 20 sponsors of $20 per month per child. Currently we only have 5 sponsors but its a start. When you sponsor a child for $20 a month you get a receipt for that $20. Then the mother signs a receipt that she received it. Then the following month when she comes for the next $20 she has to provide receipts showing that the money was spent on direct care of the child.

It is important to note that the financial donations to the food bank go directly to buy food and do not fund the other programs. They are separate.

Through donations of medical equipment and supplies we have been able to donate equipment to a local clinic and g