FANTASTIC NEWS! John Pentz, of Pentz and Partners of Newport Beach, CA, and local property owner and developer, has committed to obtain ALL the funding (more than 2 million dollars!) for the San Jose del Cabo Optimist Club library project! The concept was born when San Jose del Cabo president Fernando Garcia Aragon saw poor kids in an office supply store paying for copies of chapters of a book that was required in their public school classes. It touched his heart so much, that poor kids don’t even have access to a required book; that they have to scrape together a few pesos to make copies so they can study, that he decided that somehow, some way, he would make possible a library for underprivileged students. He proposed his idea to his club members and said, “we need to build a library, one that is accessible to the kids in the low income neighborhoods. (There is only one library in san jose and it is downtown san jose, very far from the poor neighborhoods, and is very small).
Optimist member Architect Samuel Godoy Soto of San Jose del Cabo researched the public library system and all the components necessary to create a library, and donated his time and talent to create a magnificent library project that will be the finest in the state, and beyond. This project was enthusiastically received by the mayor at the meeting on Wednesday.
Then we said, “How can we find so much money? We will never achieve it with fundraisers!”. How did this come about? We met the Pentz family after Melinda Pentz contacted me (Cathie Smith) several years ago because of an article in the Gringo Gazette about our Optimist club KidSmart scholarship program. She brought school supplies and Christmas gifts for the KidSmart kids and a wonderful relationship was established with the Optimists. Then they asked me to help them with their insurance, and I rented a second office in Las Tiendas de Palmilla, and we continued communication about projects and the Optimist clubs of Los Cabos.
Wed. June 20, Mr. Pentz, San Jose club president Fernando Garcia Aragon, and International liason to the state government Marco Ehrenberg, met with Los Cabos mayor Luis Armando Diaz to present the library project. Mr. Pentz had already committed to purchasing the property that the club had chosen, on a corner in the new area of Vista Hermosa in San Jose del Cabo, and also the lot next to it, where he and his wife Melinda have personally committed to entirely fund a youth center on their own. ( Purchases totaling $100,000 US dollars). Mr. Mayor surprised John and Fernando by offering 2 larger lots from the municipality, in the same area, next to a sports field (2 years ago we were told that there were no government properties available in that area!). The plan is that once the library construction is finished, it will be delivered it to the government as a public library, and will be maintained as a public library by the government. The federal government supplies all public libraries with books, and the Optimist Club will seek donations of books to supplement the basic inventory. The library plans call for a computer center, and the optimist club will work to find a financial sponsor for that area, asking first the Gates Foundation, which has funded other computer centers in Mexico, and then other foundations.
The Pentz family is funding the youth center so that local kids will have a place to go, to enjoy activities, classes, and counseling based on family values. John and Melinda Pentz, and their grown son Brian, are examples of many very successful business people today who have integrity, family values and a social conscience. Mr. Pentz is involving other like-minded developers and investors here in Los Cabos to fulfill the goal of this project, that started out as a dream of the San Jose del Cabo Optimist Club.
Please take a moment to see the Power Point Presentation created by Paige Wigginton of the San Jose del Cabo Optimist Club. We have a Spanish version translated by club member Laura Gonzalez, on request.
Optimistically submitted! By Cathie Smith, member San Jose del Cabo Optimist Club and President Cabo San Lucas Optimist Club.
YES WE CAN! ˇ SI PODEMOS!
