Rotarians hit the road to deliver emergency vehicles to Mexico

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on April 18, 2023.

Herald photo by Al Beeber Rotarians involved in the Los Amigos Project leave the southside Canadian Tire parking lot Sunday enroute to Mazatlan, Mexico with three decommissioned emergency vehicles and a hand-bus.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

For seven days and nearly 1,400 kilometres, eight members of Rotary clubs are trekking to Mexico to deliver decommissioned emergency vehicles.

The eight are taking turns behind the wheels of four vehicles on the 11th annual Los Amigos Project.

The decommissioned vehicles, including a handi-bus, two fire trucks and an ambulance left Lethbridge early Sunday morning from the southside Canadian Tire outlet for Mazatlan. Among the drivers was Karlyne Samuels of the Rotary Club of Lethbridge Sunrise who jumped behind the wheel of a massive green firetruck from the Duchess and Rural Protection Area. Lethbridge Sunrise founded the Los Amigos project.

Randy Smith of Olds, a retired fire chief and co-ordinator of this year’s trek, was also a driver along with his wife Donna.

Communities receiving the vehicles have to sign an agreement stating they’ll maintain them, otherwise they go back to the Rotary Club of Mazatlan and then are redistributed to other communities in need.

Smith said before the group left that he’s particularly excited about the hand-bus which was donated by Southland Transportation of Calgary.

“The vans make a difference in their lives,” Smith said of the people who will be making use of it. These individuals are often isolated with no ability to leave their own communities and the van will change that.

“It changes their whole outlook on the world,” says Smith who has made several trips to Mexico as part of the initiative.

“They really use these vans.”

On Sunday, the crew was planning to drive 900 kilometres, the longest stretch of any during their trek.

The rest of the week organizers expected to be shorter days with six or seven hours behind the wheel. Rest stops are planned every two hours.

All the vehicles being taken to Mexico are in good shape, Smith said. Over the years, only one unit in a Los Amigos convoy has ever broken down on the road – that one due to a blown transmission.

The project, Smith said, is a big partnership involving “so many moving parts.” The cost per vehicle amounts to between $7,000 to $8,000 for each to make it to Mexico with fuel being a big part of that. After arriving in Mexico, the drivers will fly back to Canada.

Rotary clubs participating this year include Lethbridge Sunrise as well as ones from Olds, Innisfail, Airdrie, Brooks, Calgary Fish Creek, Pincher Creek and several in Mexico.

The project, says the losamigosproject.ca website, “accepts donations of decommissioned emergency and service vehicles and supplies and in turn donates them to communities in Mexico in need. These vehicles are now in regular use for medical emergencies, firefighting and transportation of young students and people with disabilities in Mexico.”

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