June 2014

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

The Amazing Race, Playa del Carmen
Playa Community hubs second fundraising mini challenge

Objective
Raising funds to support our partners, Save the Children, the Equine Therapy and Integral
Care Center in Playa del Carmen and Cocos Cat Rescue.
Summary
On the 27th of June, the Playa community hub participated in the fundraising mini challenge
event. Based on the style of The Amazing Race the volunteers had to find and complete
challenges in locations all over Playa del Carmen. The volunteers raised $2,434.45 in just
over 4 days and the winner of the race had a time of 1 hour and 45 minutes. Each team
fundraised for the improvement of the Ludoteca, Equine Therapy and Integral Care Center in
Playa del Carmen and Cocos Cat Rescue; whether it is new equipment, furniture, supplies
or scholarships.
Report
On the 27th of June at 9:30am, 12 volunteers left the playa house excited and anxious, as
they did not know what the day would bring them. They were told to wear running shoes,
sunscreen and to bring water nothing more, nothing less. They were escorted to the meeting point in two overcrowded collectivos buzzing with energy; the Amazing Race, Playa del
Carmen edition was to start in 30 minutes.
A week prior, the volunteers were introduced to the idea of this years mini-challenge fundraising event. They were inspired with the idea of being able to help the community projects
even more than they already had. Our volunteers have been generously giving their time by
being on projects here physically; however, there are larger aspects that can be covered by
monetary donations. Such things include replacing broken/ flimsy furniture for the children,
supplying medicine or equipment for the vets, and scholarships for children whose mums
work in the school (as
their wage was paying
for their childs school
fee, earning them little
to no money). As all of
them have worked in
the projects and had
fallen in love with the
people they were fundraising for, the fire
burned even more and
it motivated them to
bring their cause to
those back home.
Figure 1 The #gviamazingrace #Ready to start

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This year, the staff organized a mini-race in the style of the popular television show, The
Amazing Race1. The lucky 12 were split into 4 groups; blue, green, red and yellow and the
aim was to out-raise the other groups before the race, and to out-race the other groups on
the day.
Through the GVI Charitable Trust fund,
they were able to create team fundraising
pages and were given an impossibly short
time of 4 days to raise as much as they
can. Each person shared their page, told
their story, contacted their loved ones and
crashed their social media with updates.
Friday aka. Race day arrived, and it was
revealed that they raised $2,434.45 in 4
days; smashing the initial goal! They had
successfully completed the first half of the
challenge and with the air of excitement;
they were ready to start the final part. Figure 2 Blue team completing their Ludoteca 'surprise'
Equipped with only 100 pesos ($8USD) challenge
they were to navigate their way around
Playa del Carmen to secret locations and complete challenges. Except for the Yellow team
who raised the most, who won an additional 20 pesos to their budget (less than $2USD, big
spender!) and the lead start. The race was not going to be easy, but some teams found
themselves lost for an hour or waiting for collectivos for 45 minutes. The Blue team won
with a time of 1 hour and 45 minutes, and the yellow team finishing at 3 hours and 10
minutes). Congratulations to teams Red and Green for spending ONLY 45 pesos in travel!
A special mention and thank you to our
partners at the Save the Children
ludoteca, Special needs School and
Cocos cat rescue for being a part of
our locations in our race. Also a special mention to the staff that helped
man the posts; we even got the Country Director and Program Coordinator
involved!

Figure 3 Red team getting creative with their Coco's social

media challenge

But most of all, a giant congratulations

to our incredible 12; Beth, Lauren,
Nandita, Julia, Freddy, Daisy, Dani,
Kim, Katie, Alli and Hannah for all that
youve done. It was a successful challenge, successful fundraise and an incredibly fun day that hopefully you all
will remember for the rest of your lives.

If you want to find out more information about the projects we support through the GVI
Charitable Trust, visit:
http://gvi.org/what-we-do/the-projects/supporting-child-development-in-mexico
http://gvi.org/what-we-do/the-projects/support-animal-welfare-in-mexico
1

The Amazing race show description, http://www.cbs.com/shows/amazing_race/

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