Countywide : Clubs Raise Money for School in Mexico

Rotary clubs from 15 Orange County cities have raised $13,000 to begin construction on an elementary school in Libertad, Mexico, a suburb of Tijuana.

Clubs from Laguna Beach, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, El Toro, Mission Viejo, Tustin, Brea, Costa Mesa, Placentia, Irvine, Newport Beach and Anaheim contributed to the project.

Rotary members started raising money for the project last year after about 250 elementary-school children were literally crowded out of their classroom, said Mike Darnold, a San Juan Capistrano Rotarian in charge of the project.

“Their old classroom had to be used by the high school, which is also very crowded,” Darnold said.

In fact, overcrowding is so bad in the Mexican school system that when schools are donated by groups like the Rotary, they fill immediately, he said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we had 400 to 500 attending this school by the end of the year,” Darnold said. The school will open Sept. 20 for 250 students.

Club members have accumulated discarded typewriters, chairs, desks and playground equipment. Furniture deemed obsolete here often saves Mexican children from having to sit on the floor.

“It’s hard to believe we have children sitting on bare, cold concrete just an hour’s drive away,” Darnold said.