Take
to the Hills!
is a Douglas, Arizona
based project that collects clothing, food, water, blankets,
building supplies, medical supplies, school supplies and other
items then delivers them directly to communities in the Sierra Madres,
Sierra Alta, Rio Sonora and other regions of northern Mexico. Take
to the Hills! is a division of WindTree
Ranch. We are staffed entirely by volunteers and supported by private donations
and a grant from Paul Newman/Newman’s
Own.
THE CONCEPT IS SIMPLE:
1) Take what you don’t need,
2) Put it in your car...
3) Drive it to the people who need it.
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If You are interested in donating
time or resources please click on Contact Us. If you own a high-clearance
4x4 truck or SUV and want to experience driving in Mexico, consider
taking a trip with us...you're guaranteed to come back a different
person.
The Sierra Madre mountains
run along the
eastern and western coasts of Mexico at altitudes between six and
eleven thousand feet. It is extremely remote and sparsely populated
terrain with small communities connected by some of the most rugged
and dangerous roads in the world. The people are generally of mixed
and Indigenous blood living on ancestral land in communities of
between fifty and one thousand people. The major industries are
timber, mining and ranching with a family income averaging around
eight dollars a day. Most communities are several hours from any
paved road or medical facility and generally without clean water
or electricity. The people suffer from high rates of malnutrition
and bacteriological diseases, including cholera, which resurfaced
in the Eastern Sierra Madres in 1998. Most houses are small, single
room dwellings with dirt floors and are constructed with rough timber,
adobe, or burnt adobes.
One
pickup truck or SUV,
packed properly,
can carry enough in the way of clothing, school and medical supplies
to clothe and help support an entire community. A big difference can
be made in just one trip.
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