La Penita RVers Give Back to Community as Thanks for the Memories
Tara A. Spears
In a tourist town one would think that the temporary visitors would only focus on their personal good time. Remarkedly, Jaltemba Bay has attracted thousands of caring, altruist individuals that are so impressed with the genuine, welcoming local people that they make an effort to give back. Whether the foreigner is here a couple of weeks or stays the season, many snow birds care deeply about La Penita, Guayabitos, and Los Ayala. For many, donating for scholarships is a way to gently thank the community for the friendships and sharing their home. One particular segment of the visitors are the big hearted people that embrace the RV lifestyle. There is an RV park in each of the sister JB towns, and these seasonal residents contribute lots to the local economy-not just spending but volunteering and befriending others.
A nomadic RV life isn’t for everyone, but it says a lot about a person if they’re choosing this lifestyle. For these enthusiasts, adventure, meeting new people and quality of life is important.
While there are lots of fun activities and just chilling on the beautiful Pacific Ocean beach, the residents of the park are involved in community service clubs and activities. Two of the original RV Park projects, the annual Cancer de Mama Clinic and the RV Park Education Fund is administered by park residents have had a tremendous impact on the local community. The town residents revere the RVers for their creativity, generosity, and assistance.
Many RVers, who might only come for a couple of weeks’ visit, time their trip to be in the park for the breast cancer clinic and/or scholarship fundraiser. Most people volunteer once and become dedicated to helping. In the 16 years that the park has raised funds for education, 23 young men have been able to go to university and graduated! With a record-breaking fundraising year, the Park residents enabled 11 new students to be awarded an academic university scholarship for 2024. It’s a generous, lovely thank you to the host community from the nomadic visitors.
The back story of this non-profit fund is that the La Penita RV Park created this award for annual scholarships for young men wishing to pursue higher education after the passing of a longtime seasonal resident, Fran Milski. As time went on, the organizer and administrator, Carole Thacker, changed the name to the La Penita RV Park Educational Fund. Carole has pretty much single handedly kept the effort going, gathering other park residents to help provide the casual dinner under the stars each winter for the last 16 years. Although the primary supporters live in the park, the Sunday Hamburger Nights are open to the public.
It’s important to know that the RV scholarship award is based on several criteria-not just economic need. This is why there is such a high success rate of graduates. Not every applicant receives an award: we evaluate to consider who is academically capable of succeeding, and whose education will benefit the community in addition to his economic need. In a tourist/ hospitality driven economy there is a high demand for the business degrees to manage the hotels as well as in the support technical fields. In addition, there is high demand for all the typical service fields for the citizens.
If you know a deserving student, you may obtain an application by emailing carole@lapenitarvpark.com, pick up an application at the RV Park office or at the TecnoCom Office in central La Penita.
We applaud the motivation of these outstanding young men as they strive to achieve their potential and to enhance the quality of life for themselves, their families, and their community. Each young man dreams of the day that he will have his own business or executive level employment. Who could have imagined that enjoying a burger and margarita would have such significant and long-lasting benefits? Thank you, residents and friends of La Penita RV Park for your generosity!
