On Monday, June 29, Regent Cynthia DeCoux Stone of the Thomas Paine Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) met with representatives of FoodBank Lakeside – Paola de Watterlot, Christine Philipson, Glorine and Larry Barnhardt, Alfredo Aldana, Mark Dansson, and Patricia Klauer – on the Chapala malecón.
There, Stone presented the FoodBank Lakeside team with a DAR Community Service Award, which included a cash donation of US$850 and 13,200 pesos.
FoodBank Lakeside was born as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which created high unemployment and left many Mexican families without an income, and consequently without food, in Lakeside. Its founders, De Watterlot (Mexican), Christine Philipson, (Canadian) and Gloria Barnhardt (American), were eager to help these families by providing despensas, (packs of household necesities) first in Ajijic and San Antonio Tlayapcapan and then expanding eastward. They were soon coordinating with Poco a Poco, another non-profit, and serving villages all the way to San Pedro Itzicán. Now, after 12 weeks, they have provided over 5,700 despensas to eight lakeside communities.
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