Michele’s Pantry:
Nurturing the Body and the Spirit

Michele Moomaugh, a board member of the Baja Scholarship Program (BSP), could never understand how children from impoverished families could be expected to study and learn in school while gnawing hunger depleted their energies and overwhelmed their thoughts. Her hope was that the BSP could eventually begin a food-bank and sundry support system that would provide emergency resources for the families of those children.
That hope has now been realized, but unfortunately she is not here to see it. Michele Moomaugh was killed in early June, in a car accident on the toll road.
Michele’s Pantry has now been established as part of the BSP, taking shape through financial contributions from family and friends who appreciated Moomaugh’s perspectives and dedication to helping others. Because the BSP is an established 501C3, donations are tax-deductible. Pantry resources support the families of students who receive scholarships through the BSP, which began 12 years ago with a mission to raise money to help Mexican children continue their educations from elementary school all the way through college.
Currently, there are 33 students who receive scholarship support from the BSP. The youngest child in the program is 8 years-old, and if he continues to achieve good attendance and grades in school, he will be eligible to continue receiving scholarship support throughout his education years. Hopefully, he will follow in the footsteps of Alicia Martinez Morena, who entered the program when she was 13. This year, she becomes the BSP’s first student to graduate from college and she will do so with a degree in medicine from La Universidad Autonoma de Baja California (UABC).
The parameters of the BSP are simple and straightforward: students must have good grades and must maintain a grade point average of eight to ten (the Mexico system of grading), and they must be poor. The trick is that it is difficult for a hungry child to focus on studies and classwork. As Lily Stewart Walker, a BSP board member, notes, “In order to feed mind and spirit, you have to start with the body!” That’s where Michele’s Pantry will play a vital role in broadening the ability of the scholarship program to fully benefit its student participants.
According to BSP president Judie Kesson, the resources of Michele’s Pantry will be allocated to families who experience the most urgent need, and help will come in a variety of forms.
Says McKesson, “We will buy basic foods, like rice and beans, and we obviously hope that we will receive donations of canned goods, like tuna-fish and Spam. But it’s not just food we need.” She explains that many of the children come from large families and their needs range from diapers to eating utensils to basic soap products. Unfortunately, adds McKesson, one of the BSP’s most critical challenges is finding storage for the foods and sundries that are donated. Recently, when the BSP approached a major storage facility near Puerto Nuevo, the organization’s plea for a donated storage space was rejected.
“It would be incredible if someone could donate a storage unit or money to rent one…it would go a long way towards allowing us to really expand this pantry program and ensure that we always have the resources instantly available to help families when their needs are truly emergent,” she explains.
Recently, the BSP hosted its annual summer fiesta at Rancho Macias, just south of Cantamar. Board members and friends of the BSP were there, as were all of the students in the program, who arrived with friends and family members to partake of tamales (made by a mother of one of the students), rice and beans, and other snacks.
But the highpoint of the fiesta is, as it is every year, the portion where each student takes a turn explaining who he or she is and what the program means to them. It is a strong experience for everyone, especially the youngsters who see and hear someone like Alicia Morena or Luis Miguel, an engineering student, explain their ambitions. The fiesta is key to the success of the scholarship program because it is a chance for parents and children, alike, to see that it can and does succeed…that there is a realistic hope for a better future.
The BSP holds fundraisers periodically throughout the year to raise monies to support the scholarship program, to provide computer training and English classes to students, and to provide funds from its ‘Bottom of the Heart Fund’ that provides gifts and other special needs assistance. Now, the fundraisers will also serve to bolster Michele’s Pantry.
For more information on the Baja Scholarship Program and to find out how you can help, please contact Ken or Judie Kesson at kenorjude@yahoo.com or call (661) 613-2359.