The family of Lou Catching, a Lakeside resident who passed away last year, decided to remember him by doing something that would reflect the person he had been.
Catching, an Anglican priest who was the vicar of St. Mark’s Church in Guadalajara for a time before retiring to Ajijic, was active at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church at Lakeside and instrumental in starting the St. Andrew’s Christian Outreach Program. Since education was and is a family soft spot, they did the research through a local friend and resident of Ajijic and set up the Catching Fund.
The family made a one-time donation of 7,500 dollars (191,259 pesos) to be used exclusively to assist medical students who have excellent marks to complete the final years of their studies and also to help defray the cost of the licensing process. The Catchings selected the University Vocational Assistance program (UVA) to choose the students and administer this donation.“Medical school is expensive no matter where you are,” said UVA head Lynn Hanson. “After four years of studying into the night, scrambling for tuition fees and side steeping parties, most students need a helping hand.” According to Hanson, three students in the current UVA program stand to qualify for assistance from the Catching Fund. They are Jose Alberto Mendoza Campos (medical school), Arturo Jesus Gutierrez Orozco (dentistry) and Gerardo Martinez (surgery, obstetrics and gynecology). Mendoza will be the first recipient of aid from the fund beginning this coming semester. He is a determined young man with a higher than 90 percent grade point average for his entire medical school career. He’s 22 years old, a native of Chapala and in his eighth semester at the University of Guadalajara School of Health Sciences. He has chosen to do his internship at the Ayala hospital in Guadalajara (an IMSS facility) and hopes to work in pediatrics. His family operates a fish stall in the Ajijic tianguis on Wednesdays and gives a portion of their income and moral support to help him.
The Vocational Assistance program has been in continuous operation since the mid 1970s. They are proud of their record of giving 100 percent of all donations received to the students. Administrative expenses are paid for by board members out of their own pockets. UVA will sponsor 43 students during the next semester.
Students apply for entrance into the program twice a year—in July and in December. Payouts are made twice a year. The requirements for acceptance are a grade point average of 8.5 (out of 10), proven need and a very supportive family. If the student is currently attending university the grade point average is based on the prior semester. Home visits are made to discuss how much assistance a student needs. This varies from about 2,000 pesos per semester to full support by a sponsor. The average sponsorship support is 3,000 to 4,000 pesos per semester.
To learn more about UVA, contact Sue Torres at 766-2932 or Lynn Hanson at 766-2660.