Mattresses for Sayulita Children in Need

Sadly, there are several native families within the Sayulita community in which children sleep on the floor, as they don’t have a mattress to lay their head upon. When Fernando and Carolyn Lazaro and Marusa Rodriguez became aware of the need for something as basic as a mattress, it pressed upon their hearts to make a difference in the life of these children and they decided to take action.

They had heard of a program in San Miguel De Allende based out of the St. Paul Church, which constructs mattresses for children using fabric and plastic bags. This program was started 15 years ago by a German woman and has become a well-known, well-respected and very successful community project. Fernando, Carolyn and Marusa went to San Miguel, volunteered and learned the art of making these mattresses and are now in the midst of replicating this project here in Sayulita.

“This project is a great way to help native children in Sayulita, while also helping to make a difference in the environment. We had been thinking about how we could help those in need and we are very happy that we can make an impact in both ways,” Fernando, Carolyn and Marusa said.

Their initial goal is to make 11 mattresses, as they are currently aware of 11 children in the community who sleep on the floor of their home each night. For each mattress, approximately 1,500 plastic bags are used.

Donations of CLEAN, plastic bags are needed to help make this project successful. Other pieces of plastic can also be used, such as the plastic that covers a case of soda. However, cellophane cannot be used.  You can drop off donations of bags, even ripped ones, and other plastic donations to Costa Verde International School, the Mercado del Pueblo or the apartment above the Libreria Sayulita on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

A classroom of children at Costa Verde will be helping to roll the plastic bags in preparation of stuffing the mattress covers. More volunteers are needed for this, as well as for sewing mattress covers and stuffing the mattress covers with the plastic bags. This is a great opportunity to not only help the needy children in Sayulita, but also to meet and socialize with other like-minded people in our community.

If you would like to volunteer your time or make a monetary or fabric donation, please contact Carolyn Lazaro at carolynleeme@yahoo.com or Marusa Rodriguez at jetziba@gmail.com.