January’s Recipient of Sayulita Life’s $5,000 Donation*: Casa Clu

For the month of January, Sayulita Life has selected Casa Clu in San Ignacio, Sayulita’s neighboring town, to receive our monthly donation. Casa Clu civil association (CA), is a recreation and learning center where the children from San Ignacio, Nayarit can gather and feel free to express their feelings. It is a place to play, create, teach, learn, share, laugh and grow. Casa Clu’s team of psychologists, teachers, artists, athletes, professionals and volunteers has built a program of art, sports classes, workshops, field trips, and games, to create new opportunities and a better future for the kids of this community. Sayulita Life’s donation went toward helping to purchase Christmas gifts for the children of Casa Clu. Patty Rozos, leader of external communication at Casa Clu, describes more about Casa Clu and its mission.

What is the overall concept or mission of Casa Clu?

Casa Clu’s mission is to use games, art, sports, creativity, and recreation as our means for learning and growing, to achieve cohesion, and to trigger positive change in the lives of children and adults from rural communities.

When was Casa Clu first founded and why? 

Casa Clu was founded 10 years ago by psychologist Jessica Zepeda, who saw a big need in the community; she was living in San Ignacio when she realized that kids needed a place to play and change their future. She started with a small group of kids, but as she progressed she started to need more staff members and a bigger place for all the activities she had in mind, and that’s how Casa Clu started to gain shape and be what it is today. 

What will Sayulita Life’s donation help to fund or purchase? 

The donation went toward purchasing Christmas toys for the kids of the community. 

Is there any special information you would like readers to know about Casa Clu? 

Yes; we need monthly donors to maintain our project and facilities; our expenses are $50,000 pesos per month. This covers the staff’s salaries, our workshops, general maintenance, equipment, and materials. We also recently opened a community farm. This farm was a result of the pandemic and the need for the community to have good, quality food locally accessible. We have been working really hard on this project, and we are happy that the community is involved in it. Our goal is to be able to provide jobs with the farm and for it to keep creating a sense of community.

To find out more about Casa Clu or to donate, please contact Patty at Casa Clu via email. 

*Since its founding in 2004, SayulitaLife.com has been dedicated to giving back to the community of Sayulita. In our 15th year as a company, Sayulita Life has created the “Giving Fund”, where we have pledged to donate $5,000 pesos EVERY MONTH to a local charity or cause. Read more at https://www.sayulitalife.com/giving-back.

Written by: Aanya Sheikh-Taheri