Take to the Hills! Clothing the Sierra Madres

By Patrick Randall

The renowned FreewayBlogger, aka Patrick Randall, tells the story of one of his earliest decision to take direct actionâ he hears a report of poverty in Mexico, loads up his trusty old VW bus and hits the road with half a ton of clothes, no map, some good tunes and a sense of adventure.

The trip turns into an exploration in discovery, friendship and the power of acting on your beliefs in a tale of a journey that's part travelogue, part exhortation to take philanthropic risks, but all heart.

"Take to the Hills! Clothing the Sierra Madres" is the story of how a coincidence turned an English teacher into a modern-day Robin Hood: taking warm clothing from the rich and bringing them to the poorest, coldest people he could find. It shows how one person can make a difference in the lives of thousands and have the adventure of a lifetime doing it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Apr 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9780988724310

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Take to the Hills! Clothing the Sierra Madres

Here's a moment that changed my life:

I was cleaning my apartment, standing in front of my closet with an armload of blankets and wondering what to do with them. A story came on the radio about a cholera epidemic in the Sierra Madre mountains. While the reporter talked about the poverty, cold and isolation of the villages, it occurred to me that the obvious thing to do was put the blankets in my car and drive them up to those villages. And, eventually, that’s what I did.

In fact, I spent the next three years collecting blankets, warm clothes, school and medical supplies, and delivering them to communities throughout the northwest Sierra Madres, reaching about forty different villages spread out across 5,000 square miles. When I was done I could look at a globe, put my finger down on one spot and say, There, right there. The people who live in this place are at least slightly better off because of what I did. It’s an amazing feeling, and not one that many get to experience. But it’s actually quite easy to do if you’ve got the time, and if you pick a relatively sparsely populated area.

If you want to directly alleviate human suffering here’s what to do: collect warm clothing, put them in a car and deliver them to people who are cold. Of course, the same formula works by bringing food to the hungry and medicine to the sick, but clothing is easier to obtain, lasts much longer and avoids complications of diet and allergies. Clothing also has the advantage of being highly condensable: even a small car can hold enough to help dozens of people, while a pickup truck can clothe well over a hundred.

While most charitable efforts require all kinds of planning, support, administration and infrastructure, collecting and delivering clothing does not. In fact, if you live in or near a large city, you can start right now. Go to your closet, pick out a large coat and a blanket or two, put them in your car, and go find someone who’s living on the street. It’s that easy.

Although doing it on a larger