For the good of Mexico

Hundreds of Latinos pulled up in trucks and cars all day Friday at two Santa Rosa locations to unload bottled water, canned food, diapers, cereal, blankets and soap.

The goods are bound for the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas, where an estimated 1.2 million people have been affected by the country's worst flooding in 50 years.

"Let's put in our little grain of sand," said Exitos 100.9 station director Juan Leal, speaking in Spanish on the air Friday afternoon.

Leal, who organized the radiothon, directed station listeners to a parking lot in front of the Santa Rosa offices of the United Farm Workers. Some came directly from Costco, Safeway and other stores after getting off work.

Maria Barajas of Rohnert Park dropped off shampoo, baby food, cans of tuna and cereal and then stayed to help sort the food that by afternoon began piling up in the Corby Avenue parking lot.

"I just got off work and I have the rest of the afternoon off," Barajas said. "What better way to spend the afternoon than helping others?"

Meanwhile, another collection and another radiothon was taking place just four miles away, in front of the Finley Avenue offices of KBBF 89.1.

General Manager Jesus Lozano said his station and several other local commercial radio stations are conducting a campaign through Sunday called "Unidos con Tabasco," or United with Tabasco. They hope to collect 25 tons of goods to be transported to southern Mexico.

The collections are being facilitated by the Mexican Consulate, which has arranged for free air transport by Mexicana Airlines, according to Augustin Pradillo, a spokesman for the consulate in San Francisco.

Pradillo said the floods earlier this month have devastated the economy of Tabasco.

"The floods have affected 95 percent of the state's agriculture and livestock industries," Pradillo said. "It's going to take at least two years for the area to recover."

The floods devastated homes, buildings, infrastructure, agricultural crops and livestock. The American Red Cross has provided $500,000 in financial assistance and supplies to assist flood survivors, including $250,000 in partnership with USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.

In Santa Rosa, many of those who dropped off goods in response to the local radiothons repeated a similar refrain.

"What if this were happening to me and my family?" said Santa Rosa resident Graciela Rivera, who dropped off diapers, deodorant, cereal, razors and canned food.

Rivera said her husband was born in Tabasco and he has been unable to contact his grandparents, uncles or cousins by telephone. Much of their information about the disaster comes from images on Spanish television, she said.

"We watch news on TV and my husband simply lowers his head," she said. "It's horrible not knowing what's happening to his family down there."

The goods collected during the 12-hour radiothon on Exitos 100.9 were to be transported to Sonoma Materials Inc., a construction materials business on Broadway in Sonoma.

From there, the goods will be transported to Sacramento and then flown to Mexico, according to Tony Garcia, owner of the construction business and a member of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad.

You can reach staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@

pressdemocrat.com.