Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - The "Give Hope - Give A Hand" event in Puerto Vallarta was a tremendous success! Twenty-one recipients received their new prosthetic hands on Sunday, April 22nd at the Santa Barbara Rehabilitation Clinic. The faces of the recipients made all the effort worthwhile.

A room full of political dignitaries, volunteers and family members celebrated the event in style with food, drink and music that was all donated by local businesses. The core group of volunteers that met for six months prior to the event included Rebeca Jimenez, Dr. Peter Gordon, Mai Dolch, Jorge Patino, Juan Arana, Paula Retamal and Carlos Zamittiz.

Rebeca Jiminez organized the logistics of the event including the food, media and advertising; a very big job indeed. Dr. Peter Gordon gave generously of his time communicating with the core members, organizing our meetings, coordinating legal documents, as well as overseeing the fitting and training of the recipients.

Jorge Patino and Juan Arana from the local chapter of the Rotary Club provided volunteers and facilitated the importation of the prosthetic hands with Ivan Applegate. Paula Retamal and Carlos Zamittiz worked on desktop publishing creating essential publications, translating information, logos and posters.

Ivan Applegate of DIVAC offered his establishment to host the celebration; Laura Lopez Portillo of the Santa Barbara Rehabilitation Clinic hosted the registration, training and fitting facility; and Lan Tran, the Ambassador to the LN-4 organization, facilitated the shipping of the hands and oversaw the fitting and training programs.

Thanks to Luis Mayorga - Hotel Velas Vallarta; Federico Garcia - Fredy's Tucan Restaurant; Cayetan Rodriguez - Hotel Canto del Sol; Augusto Manghisi - Hotel Las Palmas; Jose de Jesus Tabullo - Coca Cola; and Margarito, Eva and Angela Ocon - River Café, for all their work, kind donations and support. Music was provided by Randall Scott on mandolin and me on guitar and vocals. Tina Francisco added ambience with her beautifully abundant floral arrangements.

Without Mai Dolch's passion and insight to help people in need, none of this would have happened. A special thanks goes out to Ms. Dolch for her dedication to improving the human condition as well as for the yummy treats we ate and drank at our meetings!