Another reason to mark your calenders to visit Boquete next year is the Bid 4 Boquete event in February. For the sixth year of Chiriqui’s biggest charity fundraiser, Bid 4 Boquete, has kicked off with a volunteer meeting in September. Volunteers representing the Panamanian, expat, and indigenous populations once again are banding together to raise money to support charitable and civic organizations in the greater Boquete area.
Items to be auctioned include jewelry, original art, professional and personal services, hotel stays, restaurant certificates, personally-prepared meals, fishing trips, household items, tourist and outdoor attractions, and many more. A list of items currently up for auction can be found on Bid 4 Boquete’s website, www.bid4boquete.com.
Proceeds from all activities benefit five major organizations: Amigos de Animales de Boquete (spay and neuter clinics for dogs and cats), Buenos Vecinos de Boquete (food outreach for elderly, handicapped, and impoverished persons), Club de Leones de Boquete (a leading force behind the establishment and furnishing of the new Boquete library), Fundacion Pro-Integracion Handicap Center (services for area handicapped individuals), and the Rotary Club (student scholarships and support of area schools).
In February 2012 Bid 4 Boquete raised over $70,000. Sixty thousand dollars was divided among the major beneficiaries, and seven thousand dollars in mini-grants were awarded to seven other local organizations: Alto al Crimen (crime fighting), Biblioteca de Boquete (library), Knitters and Natters (handmade blankets and hats for indigenous infants), Loco por Leer (literacy), ReAl Boquete (recycling), the Santa Lucia Children’s Camp (scholarships for children from the orphanage) and the 20-30 Club of Boquete (a variety of charitable activities).
Area residents are encouraged to visit the Bid 4 Boquete website to learn more about this umbrella organization and how you can help. Contact Bid 4 Boquete at bid4boquete@gmail.com.
Fundación BID 4 BOQUETE
Beneficiary Organizations
BUENOS VECINOS de BOQUETE (BVB) is a small, all volunteer committee that provides basic non-perishable food supplies on a monthly basis to over 118 individuals and their families in the greater Boquete community. The families served are either elderly with no outside support, or are with handicapped members. BVB’s clients are subject to basic minimum financial criteria, and are visited regularly by a Panamanian Registered Nurse or a Panamanian Social Worker to determine changing family circumstances. Funds to purchase food for our clients are provided by the annual Bid 4 Boquete Charity Auction, scheduled Food Drives at Romero’s, and the helping hands and hearts of our donors.
THE HANDICAP FOUNDATION is the local chapter of the Handicap Foundation of Panama (Fundación Pro-Integración de Panama). It strives to support handicapped members of our community, especially those with minimal economic resources. It provides an open, welcoming social environment; wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, canes, and hearing aids; funds to transport individuals to special education classes, physical therapy, doctor appointments; medications and treatments not covered by social security or public health. It also assists those families with handicapped members to become more economically self-sufficient and to become aware of the laws beneficial to the handicapped community.
CLUB ROTARIO de BOQUETE was founded in 2005 with the mission to help improve conditions in local schools. Since that time, the club has installed potable water systems, reservoirs, pumps and filters in nine outlying schools, and has helped build or repair school roofs, kitchens, and toilets. The club has donated computers, reference materials, and provided hundreds of children with basic school supplies. Other projects have benefited the Bomberos and Health Department, supported literacy programs, and provided over 3000 volumes to the new Boquete library. In its largest project to date, accomplished through Rotary International matching grants, two dormitories and a dining facility were built at one of the largest schools in the Ngobe-Bugle Comarca. Last year, 21 rain catchment water systems were installed in indigenous villages in Bocas del Toro Province.
CLUB de LEONES de BOQUETE is a non-profit institution, incorporated under the laws of the Republic of Panama, organized in the District of Boquete since 1946. It has been shaped by men, women and young workers concerned with helping to improve the quality of life of the needy, those with physical disabilities and those suffering loss of property due to natural disasters and other causes. The Boquete Lions Club has distinguished itself by encouraging education through scholarships and school awards, contributions to housing the homeless, and participating in projects impact on the community such as a Little League baseball and others. We have become an institution for promoting the development of our district and our country.
AMIGOS de ANIMALES was started in 2005 as a direct response to a need in the community for low cost spaying and neutering of the dogs and cats in Boquete and the surrounding area. Since that time, Amigos de Animales has been an active part of the community, promoting the general welfare of the animals in Boquete. As a direct result, when you walk around town now you rarely see roaming, starving dogs and the impact on the relative health of the animals and humans has been measurable.
