Texas country music jam
By Lisa Tyson January 16, 2009 San Miguel de Allende

Chili Cook-Off Concert
Thomas Michael Riley, Mike Blakely & John Arthur Martinez
Benefit for Centro de Crecimiento
Sat, Jan 24, noon–6pm
Real de Minas Hotel
Ancha de San Antonio & Stirling Dickinson
80 pesos; children under 8 free
Tickets at Centro de Crecimiento, Pegaso, Casa Maxwell and the Jardín starting January 16
email cencre@cybermatsa.com.mx  or call 152-6039

Most people who attended last year’s Chili Cook-off will agree this annual event has become one of the hottest tickets in town. It’s an afternoon of outdoor fun that includes delicious food and drink and great entertainment, all for the benefit of Centro de Crecimiento.

The Cook-off is thrilled to welcome Thomas Michael Riley, two-time winner of the Hill Country Entertainer of the Year Award, back to the Hotel Real de Minas outdoor stage for the third international Chili Cook-off. Riley, who performed at San Miguel’s last Cook-off, is an outstanding performer and an accomplished songwriter. His songs are a fixture on Texas music radio’s Top Ten.

This year, two other award-winning country music performers, Mike Blakely and John Arthur Martinez will join Riley. The three entertainers will perform individually and together, offering sanmiguelenses an unprecedented opportunity to enjoy a full afternoon of authentic, live country music in a beautiful outdoor setting.

Blakely is not only a singer/songwriter with six CDs to his credit, but he is also an accomplished novelist. Three of Blakely’s novels have been finalists for the WWA Spur Award, and one, Summer of Pearls, won the award in 2001. His most recent novel, A Tale out of Luck (2008), was co-written with country legend Willie Nelson. Blakely is a rare talent and festival officials are fortunate to welcome him to San Miguel.

Martinez made his debut on the country music scene in 2003, when he won second place on the USA Network’s national talent competition, Nashville Star, and landed a recording contract with Dualtone records for his original song, “Home Made of Stone.”

He has performed at the Grand Ole Opry and now tours extensively, sharing the bill with such stars as Mark Chesnutt, The Greencards, Peter Dula and Paul Overstreet. His song “Seguro Que Hell Yes” appeared on a Grammy-winning album by Flaco Jimenez.

The Chili Cook-off is a rare chance to see these three great artists perform together. With them on stage, the 2009 Cook-off promises to be the best yet, including not just great food and fun but also a front row seat to a country music jam session by three of Texas’s best.

Mujeres en Cambio Luncheon

Thu, Jan 22, 2pm
Hacienda de las Flores
Hospicio 16
120 pesos

Mujeres en Cambio turns 14
By Roger Hind

The 14th birthday luncheon will feature fabulous food by Michele Vallon of The Night Kitchen Caterers. Michele will be preparing Asian rice noodles with marinated baked salmon and an Indonesian sauce.

Side dishes and salads will be prepared by the Mujeres en Cambio members. We’ll celebrate with a mocha tres leches cake from Casita Feliz.

Isn’t it amazing how a good idea, especially one with heart, grows almost effortlessly? The vision shared by several friends 14 years ago has improved prospects for impoverished women from the ranchos around San Miguel. Plans to make the vision a reality were developed at potluck lunches where the friends brainstormed ideas. 

Early projects included teaching embroidery and rug hooking to women from the campo; supplementing funds for preschools after the peso devalued and DIF had no money and providing educational scholarships to outstanding female students.

Beginning with only eight students, the group now helps over 130 young women to attend high school and university. Educated girls, especially those who finish secondary school, are less likely to marry young, to have an unwanted pregnancy, or to engage in high-risk behavior. If they choose to have children, they are much more likely to go further in school and have better health.

Presently we are supporting 31 young women at college or university, each of them having been given the chance for an education by receiving high school scholarships from Mujeres en Cambio.

One of our students is studying to be a midfwife at CASA; others are studying business administration, law, tourism, English and computing. One of our college graduates runs the quality control labs at the Esmeralda Dairy Factory here in town. Our high school students must attain grade point averages of 8 or higher. Most thrill us with grades of 9 or 9.5 and we always applaud those (quite a few bring us perfect 10s!).

The women who learned rug hooking now run their own business, sell their whimsical folk art at Instituto Allende Art Fairs, at selected arts and crafts shows in the US, and had several major exhibitions at US museums in 2008. This project has transformed lives. With support from Mujeres en Cambio, and especially photographer Charlotte Bell, the women have learned to run a business and can now afford food, medical care and schooling for their children.

The volunteers who run Mujeres en Cambio raise over US$75,000 a year. Members plan and run monthly fundraisers, bring food and also pay for their own tickets! Administrative overhead isless than one percent, since operational costs such as printing, mailing and computer support are all met by members (the only exceptions are legal and accounting fees and occasional mosest event costs).

Obviously the group’s success depends on donors and we are grateful for every peso we receive. Thanks to the invaluable support of Casa de Papel which sells tickets to our events and Hacienda de las Flores which donates the venue where most of our events are held.

Seating is limited to 50 people and entry is by pre-purchased ticket only, on sale now at Casa de Papel, Mesones 57A (the China Palace building). Be sure to purchase your ticket early as they sell out quickly. For further information, contact Roger Hind at 154-6552 or visit www.mujeresencambio.org.

The next event is February 19, a rustic rancho buffet lunch on a magnificent property near Atotonilco.

Red Cross unveils plans for new complex
By Bruce Rossley

San Miguel Red Cross President Dr. Jose Gallegos announced plans for a year-long campaign to construct a new Red Cross complex on the site of the existing facility on the Libramiento.

Plans include the reuse of the existing two Red Cross buildings and the construction of a new building. According to Dr. Gallegos, when completed the complex will house four major facilities: the region’s first public blood bank, a new noncritical care emergency room with doctors on call 24 hours a day, a new training facility for San Miguel residents, restaurant and hotel employees and for Red Cross personnel from throughout the state and the region’s first confidential HIV/AIDS screening and referral center, an important need in the community.

According to Dr. Gallegos, “There is a tremendous need for a facility of this type and it is long overdue. Currently, our state has only one public blood bank, located in León. That public blood bank must serve the needs of the largest city in the state of Guanajuato. This new public blood bank in San Miguel will meet a critical need in our town where the population has seen an explosion in recent years. In addition, while we are all proud of the new Felipe G. Dobarganas Hospital, their emergency room is under a great deal of pressure. The new Red Cross emergency facility will relieve pressure on the Dobarganas Hospital in relation to noncritical care cases and allow the hospital to better use its facilities for critically ill patients.”

Dr. Gallegos continued, “The new training center will provide a state of the art facility to train San Miguel residents as well as restaurant and hotel employees in emergency techniques. It also will provide a modern training center for Red Cross personnel from throughout the state and eventually from throughout the country. This facility will also serve as a revenue generator which will provide ongoing funding to support the new complex.”

While the Board of the Red Cross recognizes that this is a difficult economic time to undertake a major project of this type, “The real question is not whether we can afford to do it, but rather, whether can we afford not to do it,” said Dr. Gallegos.

He emphasized that the Red Cross has received positive and encouraging responses from Mexican charitable foundations and US foundations which provide grants for human service programs and projects in Latin America. He added, however, that all of these foundations have expressed a desire to see strong community support for the project.

“We know that we will not be able to regenerate the type of financial support from San Miguel residents and the local corporate community that would have been possible two years ago. However, we are convinced that we will be able to demonstrate strong community support which will convince Mexican and American charitable foundations that this project is not only needed, but that it has strong support from foreign and Mexican communities. We soon will announce a series of fundraising events for the year 2009. These will include two “Taste of San Miguel” dinners in March and August featuring the town’s best restaurants and a “Christmas in July” event at a local ranch. In addition, we are planning a golf tournament and a tennis tournament.”

Also, the Red Cross soon will begin a major “corporate giving campaign” and an “individual giving campaign” which will provide permanent recognition to those who support this critically needed complex.


“Through these fundraising efforts,” said Dr. Gallegos, “we will be able to demonstrate to charitable foundations the type of community support they require in order to help fund this vital undertaking.”

Dr. Gallegos concluded, “The Red Cross of San Miguel welcomes and encourages volunteer support and financial support from all residents of the foreign and Mexican communities. We can make this happen, but only with strong support from those who will benefit from this new Red Cross complex.”

If you would like to participate in this campaign, whether as a volunteer or financially, or in both ways, contact campaign coordinator Bruce Rossley at 152-5696 or email rossleyassociates@msn.com.

Bruce Rossley is a board member of the San Miguel de Allende Red Cross and co-chair of the San Miguel Red Cross Association.

W.D. Snodgrass

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W.D. Snodgrass passed away Tuesday, January 13 in New York under the loving care of wife Kathy and daughter Cynthia.

His first book, Heart’s Needle, published in 1959, won numerous awards and, most importantly, the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. It is often said that Heart's Needle inaugurated confessional poetry.

For many years “De” and wife Kathy participated actively in San Miguel’s literary community and the town’s annual Poetry Week.

In lieu of flowers, gifts can be sent to Hospice, 4277 Middle Settlement Road., New Hartford, NY 13413.