Donated equipment and vehicles heading to Mazatlan, Mexico. Photos courtesy Highway to Mexico Facebook page

By Erika Rolling

Community

Twenty-first ‘Highway to Mexico’ starts 5,500 km journey

Oct 6, 2023 | 6:00 AM

The Rotary Clubs of Grande Prairie’s Highway to Mexico crew is on the road to Mazatlan, Mexico Friday morning for their 21st trek across North America to donate much-needed emergency supplies, apparatus, vehicles, and more to those in need.

Since the project’s inception in 2002, over 100 vehicles have been driven through Canada, the United States, and Mexico, to arrive in Mazatlan to be distributed to groups like firehalls, schools, medical service providers, and others to protect their civilians and give them a better quality of life.

One of the Highway to Mexico coordinators, Norman Lafleur, says this will be his fourth trip down to Mexico for the project, but has been involved since 2017.

“We are hitting the road for Lethbridge for our first leg of the trip.”

Lafleur says there is a lot that is done prior so the trip goes smoothly.

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‘”There’s a lot of coordinating of insurance, paperwork to make sure we can get across the borders as well as coordinating with the Rotarians in Mexico to make sure everything arrives in Mazatlan properly.”

This year’s convoy has 17 drivers, which will consist of:

• One fire truck donated by the Town of Barrhead to the Edson Rotary Club
• Two ambulances
• Five school buses

In addition to the vehicles, they will be filled with used firefighting gear, ambulance equipment and other supplies no longer suitable for Canadian standards, but have many more years of service to give. Groups that donated this year are; the County of Grande Prairie, Lamont County Fire Department, New Line Auto and Barkco Safety, and the Kamloops Firefighter Charitable Society and British Columbia Fire Departments.

Lafleur says he keeps doing the project year after year because “it really does help.”

“There’s not much for funding from their government (Mexico) for such things, and it really helps out people. There’s been roads built, schools, and even fire departments started because of this.”

It will take the group approximately eight days, given perfect conditions, to arrive in the Mexican city to deliver the donations and vehicles.

You can follow the group’s journey down the road on their Facebook page.