Local Volunteers Work to Improve Life in Other Countries

photo: Francis da Silva

Marina and William McKenzie are two of the people that make Project
Concern International a successful international aid organization.

By Yolanda A. Daglio

Some people are born knowing their mission in life. So it is with long-time Sunset residents Marina, Jim and their son William McKenzie and Richmond residents Lillian and Ernest Del Barrio. Their desire has been to help those less fortunate than themselves, and their vehicle has been Project Concern International (PCI).

PCI took root in the mind of a young San Diego doctor in 1961. While volunteering at a Tijuana Clinic that year, Dr. Jim Turpin faced the life-and-death realities of children and their families in Third-World countries. It was a shock that such despair for basic medical needs existed even in a country that shares our own border. It grieved him to think of the millions of children and their families in more distant countries suffering from diseases that have not seen in the United States for generations.

Turpin knew what he had to do. 

Along with his family he moved to Hong Kong and opened a floating medical clinic for the residents of Kowloon, and PCI was given birth. 

In the 40 years plus since, the organization has grown and spread to 12 countries on five continents.  Thousands of people have joined to share Turpin's vision of a healthy child and parents, and urged local communities and governments, who had the power to prevent illness and disease, to take action. 

Prevention is accomplished in four basic areas: improving mother/child health; food sources; water sources; and preventing disease by training volunteer health providers. Thousands more people like the McKenzies and the Del Barrios have volunteered their time and energy in organizing fundraising events to keep the motor of PCI moving forward.

One such fundraising event, Project Concern International - First Benefit Concert, will be held Feb. 26, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the American Music Hall at 859 O'Farrell St. For the $34.50 tickets, call (415) 681-1400. Entertainment will be provided by several local music groups including The Tubes, a band that sprung into mainstream musical artistry right from the bosom of the Sunset District.

With fondness, the McKenzies recall collecting Blue Chip Stamps to help fund PCI in the early '60s; and their son William at the tender age of seven became interested in his parents' charitable activities. There were also fashion shows. 

It was in this decade also that Dr. Dennis Wong joined in Turpin's vision by helping buy a barge that served as a floating medical clinic in Hong Kong Harbor.  In the meantime, in San Francisco, Wong recruited volunteers which evolved to become PCI.

In the '70s, the McKenzies, including their four sons, traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, several times to help build a hospital. 

"I remember," recalled Jim, "sleeping in an old dental building while we worked on the hospital in Tijuana."

Marina continues, "The '80s were a quiet time, as far as our own activities were concerned, but in 1993 we made a trip back to Tijuana to see how the hospital looked all completed and we were re-inspired to do more fundraising. We had banquets at the Officers' Club in the Presidio and dinners and auctions in San Diego. Two years ago, Project Concern International celebrated its 40th anniversary with an event at the United Irish Cultural Center in the Parkside District."

For this year's fundraising event, William McKenzie, in part, is taking up the torch for his parents and is looking for others of his age group. So far, he has recruited The Tubes to play at the concert, KFOG radio to make public announcements and KFOG's DJ Megan Slankard to perform. He is also being interviewed by Comcast's Jack Hanson.

"Part of what we collect," added William, "will also be directed to survivors of the tsunami in South Asia, which, by the way, did not damage any of PCI's offices there." This made it easier for relief services to reach those affected by that terrible tragedy. A story was published in the SF Chronicle reporting that BART riders would be asked to use leftover change to buy water for victims in Indonesia and Safeway would match those funds in bottled water. As well, Singapore Airlines would fly 20 tons of water for free and Project Concern International, with a staff of 250 in the affected areas, would deliver it.

BART spokesman Linton Johnson said that all organizations involved (in collecting funds for tsunami victims), "have agreed to bear any administrative costs and use all the donated money for water - any amount raised above $2,000 would be sent to PCI for tsunami aid."

"People should also be told," William continued, "that we are hoping to get sponsors for the event." 

"Dr. Turpin is a real inspiration," says Marina, "Many times, he was heard to say, 'Get involved in mankind!'"

For more information about PCI, call (415) 577-4454.