We need some help!

For those of you who don't know, my parents do alot of humanitarian work in Mexico City. They have recently come across a project we are trying to raise money for. Here is more information:

We have come across a very worthy project which was brought to our attention by Mr. Palacios' sister (Mr. Palacios is our attorney in Mexico). She introduced us to the man you will see in the attached pictures. Quite some time ago, he was working as a painter on a large building. One day he was up on a high ladder and it started to fall. Instinctively, he reached out and grabbed a hold of the first thing he could - live electrical wires. He was electrocuted and hung for several minutes by this wire until he fell to the floor. His arms had 3rd degree burns but because he was very poor, he went home without even going to the hospital. Because of the lack of medical care, his arms literally died and had to be amputated below the shoulder. His wife said that she didn't want to be with a man who had no arms and so she left him and their two small children. With no means of support for his children, he rented a bike with a small tram on the back. He now makes his living giving people rides from place to place. He makes approx. $4.00 a day - $8.00 on a good day. From this, he has to pay the owner of the bike/tram rent. The man currently lives in a small one-room apartment that has very little space and no comforts.

We have decided to raise enough money to get this man prosthetic arms. We would also like to raise enough to buy him his own bike and tram (approx. $400) so that he does not have to pay someone else rent from his daily earnings. We would even like to go so far as to buy him an extra tram that he can rent out to someone else to bring in even more income.

We decided to go ahead with this project for several reasons. Of course, his need for help was tremendous. But we were impressed with his desire to do whatever he could to keep his children with him and to provide for their needs. He could have so easily placed them in an orphanage or abandoned them, as his wife did. Somehow, he makes enough to feed them and he takes care of their needs - even doing their laundry on the front porch using his stumps. After interviewing him and spending time with him, we decided that this was a man who would not take anything given him for granted and would use his life in a good way.

Two prosthetic arms cost $4800 dollars. We have currently raised $2815 dollars. Any donation is tax deductible and 100% of the donations will go to this project - not to our overhead or administrative costs. Plus, we see the project through from beginning to end ourselves. We do not deligate it to others and hope it gets done.

If anyone wants to help us out in raising money, or would like to donate themselves, or knows someone they can refer to me to talk to them about it, i would really appreciate it. Thanks guys for all your help! Just email me if you at megdeltoro@hotmail.com if you would like to donate or know someone that does. Thanks again for everyone's help!