One signature.
That’s all that stands between Bryan Nurnberger and the successful completion of his mission. After six months of wading and waiting – wading through mountains and paperwork, and then waiting for it all to be approved by Mexican governmental officials – one signature is all that’s preventing Nurnberger from making his special delivery to a Mexican orphanage.
Nurnberger, you may recall, is the Naugatuck native who filled a big yellow bus with supplies – medicine, hygiene essentials, clothing, toys, and more than 80 handmade quilts – for delivery to Casa Hogar an orphanage for children with special needs in Central Mexico.
He set off last July to drive the bus to the orphanage, only to be denied entry at the border while Mexico invented new ways to use red tape. So, after stewing in Texas fro three months, Nurnberger packed up the few items Mexican officials would allow in – mostly toys made in China – left the bus and the rest of the supplies with a friend, and headed to Casa Hogar.
The toys were warmly received Nurnberger said, but he had to do some more wading and waiting. Another three months passed, although progress was made, circumstances – specifically a three-week vacation for a key Mexican government official prevented a conclusion. So, just before Christmas, Nurnberger decided to return home.
But don’t think that’s a sign of defeat. Call it a temporary tactical retreat.
“It’s pretty frustrating,” Nurnberger said. “I had a one-day delay back at the very beginning, and that was hard to handle. Now, I’m just going with the flow.”
That flow may finally become a tidal wave of positive emotion as early as this week, when that government official returns to find the Casa Hogar paperwork on his desk.
“We’re just lacking one signature,”
Nurnberger said. “We got everything approved. We can cross the border with everything. I guess this was three Mondays ago, all the paperwork came back to the donations office in Mexico City.”
“It just needs the head of the donations office’s signature,” he said. “Unfortunately, he has three weeks vacation for Christmas and New Year’s, but hopefully, since everything’s been approved, when he gets back in he should just sign it and I can go back to Texas.”
The official was due back today, which means Nurnberger could be heading back soon to get the bus and drive it to the orphanage.
The time spent wading and waiting wasn’t a total loss, though. He did spend three months at Casa Hogar, helping with the children. He also laid the groundwork for future projects.
“The most important thing is that no one’s ever done this type of thing before,” he said. “No one’s ever taken so much stuff so far into the interior of Mexico. Now that we know how it’s done, all these lessons can be applied to the next donation we have. We’re taking our knocks now, but next time we’ll know how to do it efficiently and how to work within the system.”
The main problem is the variety of items he’s trying to bring across the border. Among them are 80 quilts, which were fashioned by parishioners of Naugatuck Congregational Church, with some help from others including the Naugatuck Visiting Nurses Association.
The variety of items meant he had to deal with five different departments in the Mexican government.
“We had a such a mixed bag of stuff on the bus, we had to go out to all these secretaries, “he said, referring to the department heads. “That’s our main problem. We’re interacting with every single possible department in the government. Next time we do a donation, we’ll do a donation of just one item, like clothing. Then we’ll have to deal with just one secretary.”
The return home allowed Nurnberger to catch up with his family, as well as to catch up on work related to Simply Smiles, the organization he founded to help Casa Hogar. For starters, he has developed a corporate sponsorship program that will consistently raise money for the orphans.
“This is the first time Casa Hogar has had any semblance of consistent income,” he said.
Information about that and future donation projects will be posted on the Web site, www.simplysmiles.org
He will also continue to update his Web log about his trip, which should have a happy ending soon.
“Everything is going to get down there,” Nurnberger declared confidently. “The Mexican government is hoping that we’re going away, and we won’t.”
David Krechevsky, Naugatuck Valley bureau chief, can be reached at (203) 729-4756 or by e-mail at dkrechevsky@rep-am.com
