No Drownings Since June ‘06 Mission Trip Fort Lauderdale - For several years, the remote village of Quepos on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast was experiencing an alarming rate of drownings, losing about 200 lives annually.  Last June, Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue and Sister Cities International in Quepos set out on a mission to reduce drowning in the region. With private funding for airfare and donated room and board, three City of Fort Lauderdale employees traveled to Quepos to provide the expertise and leadership needed to establish an ocean rescue operation.“We had to design a program that would work right away, using existing resources,” said Fort Lauderdale lifeguard Giovanni Serrano-Sanchez.  “The situation was urgent.”The Fort Lauderdale lifeguards quickly established a positive relationship with local authorities and businesses along the beach.  After assessing the situation and developing a plan, the lifeguards had four days to complete their tasks.
The missionary lifeguards set up workshops.  Local firefighters, police officers, Coast Guard, restaurant and lodging employees were trained to perform ocean rescue techniques and basic CPR.  Meetings with municipal officials yielded a commitment to hire four full-time lifeguards.  Local businesses on the beach were persuaded to provide space for lifeguards and equipment.  Prior to the mission trip, Quepos’ rescue personnel were located 20 minutes from the beach.  Following discussions with the Fort Lauderdale lifeguards, the local Red Cross agreed to keep an ambulance at the beach.There have been no drownings in the area since the training sessions by Serrano-Sanchez and colleagues Richie Rivera and Carmello Colon.  But, they say, their work is not done.“Our Sister-City lifeguards are in dire need of lifesaving equipment,” Serrano-Sanchez said.  “They have only two life-saving buoys and not much else.”Serrano-Sanchez is asking South Florida residents and businesses to donate unused lifesaving equipment to Quepos.  “Please clean out your garage,” he jokes.  Serrano-Sanchez has made arrangements with a business in Costa Rica to pay for transporting lifesaving equipment from Fort Lauderdale to Quepos. 

Donations can be dropped off at Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue, 501 Seabreeze Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.  For more information, call 954-828-4595.

Donation Wish List

• Sun-screen
• Binoculars
• Surf Fins
• Sun Umbrellas
• Rescue Buoys

Nobel Peace Prize recipient and President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, has been
invited to be the keynote speaker at the Opening Plenary Session of the
Sister Cities International Annual Conference. Please see Events Category for more information or to sponsor a Quepos delegate.

Delegation participation info:

The delegation will visit Fort Lauderdale from July 17 through July 23 and hopes to participate in various events and visits. These include, but are not limited to, visiting the Mayor’s office, City Manager’s Office, F.O.P, Police Department, Fire Department, Water Rescue Department, Sister City Events (July 18-21), Chamber of Commerce, Marine Industries Organization and Public Library.

Any suggestions from SCI Fort Lauderdale - Nuccia McCormick, Florence Smith and Robert Hodel, Mayor Jim Naugle, Robert Pretsas, City Manager, Frank Herhold, Executive Director Marine Industries Association and Carolyn Michaels, Executive Vice President Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, Bruce Roberts, Fort Lauderdale Chief of Police, Assistant Chief of Police Sharon Anderson and President Jack Lokeinsky and Vice President Mike Tucker of the Fort Lauderdale F.O.P., would be much appreciated.

At this time we are looking for assistance with Fort Lauderdale transportation, 4 - 5 vehicles, lodging, food and beverage expenses and airfare from Costa Rica for our Quepos city police department officials. Any sponsorship would be much appreciated.

The purpose of this delegation is to foster new friendships, camaraderie and professionalism amongst the members of our Sister Cities.

None of the official delegation participants have been outside of Costa Rica and your goodwill and assistance is of great value to the community. This will be an enormous learning experience and the largest SCI delegation ever to visit from Costa Rica.

To: Oscar Monge, Mayor Nubbia Anchia, President Consejo Municipal

Members Consejo Municipal

From: Harry Bodaan, SCI Coordinator

Date: April 11, 2007

Subject: SCI related meeting Fort Lauderdale (March 31 – April 9, 2007)

On April 10, I returned from a Sister Cities related business trip to Fort Lauderdale and had the following meetings:

Meeting with SCI Officials and City Manager of Fort Lauderdale

Attending: George Pretsas, City Manager

Ronny, Asst. City Manager

Carmelo Colon, Police Department

Florence Smith, SCI

Nuccia McCormick, President SCI

Lynn Shatas, Chairwoman Chamber of Commerce

Miranda Lopez, SCI - Argentina

Harry Bodaan, SCI Quepos

• I brought the meeting attendees up-to-date on what SCI Quepos has been doing for the past 20 months and the proposed plans for our 2007/2008 program. I extended an invitation for a Fort Lauderdale Governmental Delegation to visit Quepos and Manuel Antonio and offered free facilities for delegation participants. I handed every participant a copy of the proposed Agenda for their review and feedback.

• The invitation was accepted by George Pretsas, City Manager who asked for an invitation, a program and suggested the best ways how the City of Fort Lauderdale could best help the Municipality of Quepos. The acceptance of this invitation was quite significant and the first time that the City Manager of Fort Lauderdale has accepted this type of invitation for a Fact Finding Mission.

• The City Manager apologized on behalf of Mayor Naugle, who was out of town for the Easter Holidays. The mayor was represented by his assistant.

• The Assistant Chief of Police and Chief of Police were represented by Officer Colon who suggested closer communication with the Police Commissioner of Fort Lauderdale and offered whatever he could do as a liaison to help the Quepos police department and would welcome a visit of fellow police officers.

• The President of Sister Cities International (Ms. Nuccia Mc McCormick) and the representative of Mayor Jim Naugle extended an invitation for a Quepos delegation to participate in the 2007 Sister Cities International Event in July and submitted the necessary paperwork (see attached). The Annual Conference will host more than 2000 delegates and involve more than 2300 communities worldwide and will reach millions of people involved in an unlimited amount of trades in the areas of economic development, arts, culture, education, humanitarian and sportsmanship endeavors. In order for any of these programs to succeed we need volunteers heading each standing committee or ad-hoc committee.

• Nuccia McCormick and Florence Smith assured further cooperation with the finding of a Sister City School for the Escuela de Estadio and use project this as a prototype for other schools to follow. She offered to assist us with the obtaining of membership to the main SCI organization in Washington D.C., help with the Howard County Library (and to try to get an exemption from the current city ordinance which prohibits library donations), the Humanitarian Committee, Humane Society, Exchange Programs and subsequent future fundraising programs in Fort Lauderdale to assist Sister City Quepos. An important factor is that in order for these programs to succeed we need to streamline the receiving of donations through the municipality and never be embarrassed again like we are in the case of the donation to the Escuela de Estadio of the Holy Innocence Episcopal School of Atlanta. The shipment has still not been cleared through customs and did arrive in Costa Rica on December 17, 2006. If this is not resolved we can not solicit any type of donations for any of the committees.

• The Interim Chamber president vowed the Fort Lauderdale’s Chamber’s cooperation with some of the fundraising programs and suggested a separate meeting how the Chamber of Commerce of Fort Lauderdale could help assist the business community in Quepos and Manuel Antonio.

Meeting with Barbara Parrigin, Sales Manager, Lynn Shatas, 2007 Chair and Carolyn Michaels, Interim President Chamber of Commerce
Following the SCI meeting at the Municipality of Fort Lauderdale, I did a follow-up meeting with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce at the Chamber building. The meeting was very productive and I paid for a non-resident membership. The Chamber was very cooperative and made several recommendations on how they could assist our business community by offering to do periodic presentations to their membership through a variety of committees and other venues. It is possible to rent a meeting room at the Chamber of Commerce building to do presentations to their more than 1600 members.
The Chamber of Commerce of Greater Fort Lauderdale offers its expertise in all fields to have our local Chamber become a success and a premier business organization which offers leadership, fellowship, education and resources so our community can grow and prosper. Unfortunately, our current chamber leadership has declined our SCI invitation to join our upcoming delegation to Fort Lauderdale.
Meeting with Mike Tucker (Vice President FOP) and Jack Lokeinsky (President FOP).
Following the SCI meeting at the Municipal building of Fort Lauderdale and the suggestion by the city manager and officer Colon that we contact the police commissioner (Assistant to Mayor Naugle) and the Police Chief and Assistant Chief directly, we also met with the president of vice-president of the Fraternal Order of Police. I extended an invitation to all three officers present to visit Quepos and Manuel Antonio to do a work visit and see the situation at the various police departments first hand. They promised that they would be willing to assist our police departments and offered us a link to their web site. I asked for a non-resident membership on behalf of FOP Quepos so we could stay abreast about the F.O.P. Fort Lauderdale and their more than 850 members in Broward County. They also offered to look for ways to help with equipment and help with procurement of equipment. I gave them a report on the situation at the OIJ, Policia Municipal, Traffic Police, Policia de Proximidad and how the departments interact professionally.

What is needed for this working relationship to prosper is the direct involvement and volunteers of all law enforcement agencies represented in Quepos and Manuel Antonio.
Meeting with Frank Herhold, President Marine Industries Association of Fort Lauderdale and SCI President Robert Hodel

Background:
This non-profit trade association (MIASF) has a membership of more than 800 members in the Fort Lauderdale area, generates $10.7 billion annually and represents 134.000 jobs in Broward County alone. More than 120 different categories of businesses are represented in their membership. The MIASF is actively involved in community events and hosts several fundraisers for Education and Scholarship funds, Youth Programs, Regattas for Kids, water way cleanup events, environmental awareness programs, safe boating seminars, and a Marine Master Plan. An estimated 1400 mega yachts (vessels of 24 meters or longer) visit the region every year and have an average expenditure of $140,000.00 for repairs and service per visit.
Fort Lauderdale leads the state of Florida in sales of boats, motors and accessories and MIASF’s role is pivotal in promoting the industry’s interest. Every year the MIASF host various fishing tournaments and is currently the largest industry in the Fort Lauderdale area.

The MIASF is a not-for-profit leadership organization created to promote and protect the growth of the marine industry in South Florida for the benefit of its members, the community and the environment.

• The president of the MIASF is very interested in sharing his knowledge and is willing to assist with his organization’s resources to assist Sister City Quepos. This powerful organization has extended us an invitation to the Annual Boat Show which draws more than 115.000 participants annually and recommended that we send a Trade Mission and get an exhibition space to promote the Quepos and Manuel Antonio area as an ecological tourism destination and safe haven for investment. He gave us several leads for marine industry travel writers and suggested we invite these reporters to the Quepos area for some in-depth coverage. He also suggested we take out some advertising space in some of the leading industry magazines to promote our area and suggested we start a similar non-profit organization.

Meeting with Giovanni Serrano, Water Rescue Staff Fort Lauderdale (Fire Department)
I met with Giovanni Serrano and discussed the situation on the beach of Manuel Antonio and how the Coast Guard has assumed the water rescue responsibilities. I also discussed the equipment needs. Giovanni offered his help as liaison to the Fire Department Department and assistance with any equipment procurement that we need for the beach. I extended an invitation to Giovanni and Lt. Jim McCrady who is President of the USLA (United States Lifeguard Association) for the South Eastern Region of the United States. He is interested in helping our Manuel Antonio Water Rescue program and has tentative reservations for May 27 – May 31, 2007. They will need information and have offered to make a link to a website and include what is needed for our program, Mission Statement, and (pending approval) make a link to the Region’s website so a venue for donations can be provided. However, we need the direct involvement of the Coast Guard Station Quepos for this and a liaison in the municipality and others familiar with the program.

Meeting with Jawayne Keyser, US Sales Manager Martin Air (Airline).

Jawayne Keyser offered to assist with transportation of any SCI related donations (such as library books, police equipment, etc.) on MartinAir and also offered her help with setting up a Quepos/Manuel Antonio reception for South Florida based travel agencies to help improve business from Florida to Quepos and Manuel Antonio
Meeting in Fort Lauderdale with Hermes Navarro, Assessor Carlos Benavides Ministro de Turismo (ICT).

By chance and coincidence, I had an opportunity to meet with Hermes Navarro in Fort Lauderdale who pledged his support for the Sister Cities Program and offered his assistance to help find some funds for the participation of the Quepos Delegation this July. Hermes Navarro was on the Inaugural flight of Spirit Airlines which started direct flights to and from San Jose to Fort Lauderdale this week at sharply discounted rates.

c.c. Quepos Task Force

Robert Hodel, SCI Chairman Fort Lauderdale