Lakeside British Society
Andre Bellon, president of Bellon Insurance, will review the various medical insurance options available to retirees at Lake Chapala during the program time of the Saturday September 6, 1 p.m. meeting of the Lakeside British Society. Bellon’s company also writes insurance policies for homes and automobiles, but this presentation will focus on medical insurance.
The luncheon meeting will be held at Manix Restaurant in Ajijic; parking is available in the adjacent lot. Those attending can choose between three menu choices. For a cost of 120 pesos, including tip, salad or soup is served with either the chicken and mushroom pie or the fish and chips. The third choice is a large dinner salad for 80 pesos. All diners will receive chocolate cake.
Those who plan to attend should call Alicia at (376) 765-4786 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., to reserve a spot at the event and to specify your menu choice.
Operation Feed update
Operation Feed has been delivering food packages to San Juan Cosala residents for two decades. This year the group’s friends and advisors started a community garden with ten individual beds so that recipients can learn to help feed themselves and others. Everyone in local families are helping build, plant, weed and harvest the vegetables.
Upscale Resale
With over 50 children returning to a new school session, Love in Action and Hope House can both use extra money and school supplies. Upscale Resale is redoubling efforts to help by clearing out all nooks and crannies for a big sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 30 in front of the store.
Upscale Resale volunteers are happy to receive donations of new school supplies at any time. These much needed items will go directly to the children. Donations of items to stock the shop can be delivered to the store at any time. Consignments are received daily from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Consigning larger items may require an appointment.
Upscale Resale is on the Carretera in Riberas del Pilar between Maskaras clinic and Dr. Pinto’s office. Upscale Resale is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays. This bazaar is dedicated to helping support the children living and learning in Hope House and Love in Action. For more information contact Betty Parker at (376) 766-5723
Casi Nuevo
The Casi Nuevo (Like New) Bazaar in Riberas del Pilar will reopen Monday, September 1 under new management. The bazaar sells donated clothing, household items, and furniture with the proceeds helping to support three Lakeside children’s programs.
Mary-Dale Wilson, board president of the School for Special Children, explained the history of the bazaar. “The concept of selling donations to fund raise started many years ago with a card table next to a bus stop manned by a few volunteers from the old School for the Deaf. Under the direction of Mike Campo and Jacqueline Smith, the project grew into a real store and now helps support the School for Special Children, the educational programs of the Lake Chapala Society, and Have Hammers Will Travel. Volunteers from all three charities are recruited to staff the bazaar.”
The three charities’ boards extend thanks to Smith and Campo and to the new staff personnel: Shirley and Jon Kollin, and to Don Wilson for his work cleaning and painting the shop prior to the stepping in to clean and paint the shop prior to the reopening. Additional shop volunteers are always needed to fill gaps in the schedule.
Casi Nuevo now accepts items for sale on consignment as well as donated items. Shoppers and those who wish to donate items to stock the store are urged to visit the bazaar beginning Monday, September 1. Casi Nuevo is across the Carretera from the Seven-Eleven in Riberas del Pilar.
Bakeritaville and Brats
To twist the words of a popular song, local residents are “Wasting away again in Barkeritaville, longing for those great German brats …” and can’t wait for the Sommerfest fundraiser The Ranch (Lakeside Spay Neuter) is sponsoring at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, September 10. Event gusts will dive into Gudren Jones’ famous bratwurst, German potato salad and homemade pickles. There will be a cash bar (featuring the soon-to-be famous Barkeritas), music and dancing to Sol y Luna. Altogether it is an opportunity to have fun for a good cause.
Lakeside Spay and Neuter Ranch & Adoptions, a no-kill rescue and adoption dog sanctuary, provides a safe, caring home for 70 or more dogs at any given time.
Sommerfest tickets are 200 pesos and are available at Diane Pearl Colecciones, Handy Mail, PetCare, Bagel Shop, Zaina Boutique, and the Ranch table on Friday mornings in front of Banco Actinver.
Toastmasters Club
The members of the Lake Chapala Bilingual Toastmasters Club now meets from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Mondays at the Lake Chapala Society Sala. The group alternates speaking English with speaking Spanish in order to assist members improve their skills in both languages.
Monday, September 1 is a Spanish session. A mentoring training session has been scheduled in Guadalajara on Saturday, August 30. Those wishing to attend must notify Guy Jobidon as soon as possible at (376) 766-5181; information is available in Spanish by calling Marissa Urrutia at 33 1600-5937.
Open Circle
Lou Raskin, a ten-year resident of Mexico, the guest speaker at the Sunday, August 31 meeting of Open Circle, will present “The Authentic Self.” His talk will look at who people are in an authentic sense. He explained, “We are more than our names or our past or present professions, positions, or leisure activities. Instead we can get to know ourselves from a linage descendant understanding.
Participants at Open Circle gather at the Lake Chapala Society at 10 a.m. each Sunday for coffee, tea and sandwich bites. The presentation begins at 10:30 a.m.
Raskin now lives in Mazatlan. He graduated from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado with degrees in Transpersonal Psychology and Ecology, which were integrated into the study of Ecopsycology. He then worked in the aerospace industry, for General Electric, Boeing and Martin Marietta. He moved to public affairs as a program manager with the U.S. Jaycees and staff member of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration which helped promote and organize the commemoration of the country’s anniversary.
Best of the Best
Area residents are reminded to cast their votes in the 2014 Lake Chapala People’s Choice Awards by visiting the website: bestoflakechapala.com.
Some hot competition is developing between some of the local businesses in the current surveys. Businesses in the following categories are on the current ballots: “Quality of Life,” “Restaurants,” “Travel and Lodging,” “Leisure Activities,” and “Shopping.”
Voting in a new category, “Services” will begin on September 15. Another category, “Voice of Experience,” will hit the ballots in October.
One vote per day per household is accepted by the contest. If a favorite business is not listed, voters can submit a write-in ballot. Anyone who wishes to suggest additional categories for the 2015 Ballot can do so at the web site.
On November 15, the top five finalists in every poll will be announced and the tallies will be reset to zero. The new votes in the six-week period ending on December 31 will determine the 2014 Best of the Best winners. Those at the top of their respective fields will receive a certificate suitable for framing and the right to display the award emblem on print and web advertising.
Lakeside Presbyterian
During the 10 a.m. service of the Lakeside Presbyterian Church on Sunday, August 31, Pastor Ross Arnold will deliver a sermon entitled “Loving the House of the Lord.” This talk is based upon Psalm 26 in which King David is entreating God’s protection, speaking sincerely of his personal integrity and spotless innocence, and insisting that he has been blameless before God. David’s primary credit is that he “loves the house where (God) lives, the place where your glory dwells.” Arnold’s sermon looks at the meaning of the phrase, to “love the house” of the Lord and how it applies to people today.
Following the service, the congregation will gather in the garden for refreshments and fellowship. Lakeside Presbyterian Church is on the Carretera between Vigolari and S&S Auto. Watch for the sign “You have family at Lakeside!”
Christ Church
The members of Christ Church Lakeside will meet on Sunday, August 31 in Spanish at La Sagrada Familia mission in Mazamitla with the church-in-a-box. The local group will leave from the Ajijic Farmacia Guadalajara at 9 a.m. so to arrive in Mazamitla for coffee fellowship before the noon service.
Deacon Rob Wells is currently leading a Bible study on Tuesday mornings from 10 a.m. to about 11 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall of The Little Chapel by the Lake. The group is currently looking into the Gospel of Mark with plenty of sidetrack issues as they come up. Participants can join the group at any time without having attended previous weeks.
St. Andrew’s Anglican
Simon the fisherman, better known to Christians as St. Peter, will be reflecting on the occasion when Jesus rebuked him and called him Satan. “Finding Your Own Cross,” is the title guest speaker Peter has given his sermon for the Sunday, August 31, 10 a.m. worship service at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church. The children’s bilingual Sunday School begins at 9:45 a.m. There is a time of welcome, fellowship, and refreshment in the garden after the worship service.
Those attending the service are invited to bring non-perishable items such as beans, rice, pasta, lentils, salt and oil for distribution through the food program. Donations can be placed in the baskets at the church doors.
The memorial service for Margaret Cox will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 6 at the church. Interment following the service will be in the garden columbarium. Those attending will bring finger food to share during the reception that follows the service.
St. Andrew’s is located at Calle San Lucas 19, a block south of the Carretera in Riberas del Pilar.
San Andrés English
“Christ who Overcame the Reluctance of the Flesh” is the homily theme chosen by Rev. Basil G. Royston, D. Min. for the 9 a.m. English Mass on Sunday, August 31 in the Ajijic parish church.
“It comes to us as no surprise that the prophet Jeremiah should have felt reluctance to offer himself as a living sacrifice to God’s will,” said Royston. “We all experience the same reluctance to accept the cross. But what consolation it is to know that Christ experienced the same reluctance of the flesh and had to struggle to overcome it.”
The congregation recently decided to begin scheduling a food drive for non-perishable items on the first Sunday of each month. The food collected each month, beginning September 7, will be taken to Villa Infantil de San Jose y Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe on the south shore of Lake Chapala. It is hoped this collection will help ease the lack of sufficient food for the children in the home.
A group is forming at San Andrés Catholic Parish (English Mass) for those who would like to learn more about the Catholic Church or who are just curious about what Catholics believe. To obtain more information by the group, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Unitarian Universalist
The Lake Chapala Unitarian Universalist Fellowship meets at 10:30 a.m. each Sunday at Plaza de la Ribera at Calle Rio Bravo 10A.
During the Sunday, August 31 service Donna Burroughs will present “Be Not Afraid”.
Following the service those attending will retire to Restaurant Yves for lunch.
Heart of Awareness
The Heart of Awareness Buddhist Community meets in Ajijic at Encarnacion Rosas 9 for meditation and dharma teachings at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 3 when the film will be “The Benefits of a Teacher,” featuring Brad Warner, an American Zoto Zen priest. The optional First Wednesday Social Dinner will follow at La Nueva Posada.
Heart of Awareness is a non-sectarian Buddhist practice community grounded in the original teachings of the Buddha as preserved in the Theravada/Vipassana tradition. Membership includes people with Zen, Tibetan, and Shambhala backgrounds as well as people who have no prior experience with meditatiion. For more information, call Karin Miles at (376) 766-0020.