Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Corazón de Niña, a shelter for at-risk children, recently received a fresh coat of paint on the exterior of the building compliments of the Puerto Vallarta Navy League, Intercam Bank and the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Active.

The Active was in port for three days for provisioning and a bit of R&R, and took time out to perform this community relations project under the direction of the Navy League.

The Navy League and Intercam last year joined forces to conduct community improvement projects throughout the PV Region. Often these are with the help of visiting Coast Guard and Navy ships, and other times using only local residents and Navy League/Intercam members. They have a long list of potential projects awaiting completion, so expect to hear more about these needed improvements to community properties in coming months.

Now that the Coast Guard and Navy view Puerto Vallarta as their port-of-choice on the West Coast of Mexico, the Navy League and Intercam should be able to accelerate the number of completed projects throughout 2017 and beyond.

Special thanks go out to Melissa Canz and the children of Corazón de Niña for providing a delicious lunch for all painting volunteers. We'd also like to thank local builder Miguel Vasquez for providing much-needed scaffolding and Jon Murphy for handling a reception for crew members of the Active at Murphy's Irish Pub on the Malecón.