The St. Andrew’s Clinic, is held on the first Thursday of every month in Nogales. There, many underprivileged children from Mexico get the medical attention they need from doctors, practitioners and volunteers that dedicate their own time to helping others, making this miraculous event possible.

Meet Bill and Linda Schnelle, two of the many volunteers that work the clinic each month. They have been dedicating their time to the clinic every single month for the past four years.

“We come every month except for in the summer. We’re snowbirds from Montana. October through May, we are here,” Bill said.

“It’s the greatest experience to be part of something like this. Most of us live a pretty privileged life and take things for granted, so we
participate in everything including the golf tournament (at Tubac Golf Resort & Spa in Tubac, Ariz.), and Linda used to volunteer in the clinic office,” Bill said.

The couple had such passion about the work they were doing for the clinic, they worked with smiles on their faces the whole day.

“As you go through, it’s amazing to see how diverse people are here and where they come from," Linda said. "I still don’t quite comprehend the depth of it all.”

“The first few times here it looks like organized mayhem, but actually a lot of things happen,” Bill said.

When I asked them what specific part of the clinic they volunteer with, they told me they work in distribution.

“We give away the food and the clothing,” Linda said. People who donate food "bring food in from the warehouses and we never know what we are going to get. So they bring it in and we figure out how to package it. One year, or two years ago we got huge supply of 14 gallons of Gatorade concentrate and we’re like, ‘They’re not going to be able to get this across the border’,” Linda said. “And they did, the little kids each had two of them!”

Bill explained that everybody even gets to take something home with them. Necessary clothing and shoes for the whole family.

“The nice thing about the distribution down here is there’s a mountain of clothing. You’ll see it--if you haven’t already. People take things but nothing is wasted. Even if it’s the wrong the size, people take it home and trade it around and somebody will fit whatever it is, whether it’s the shoes or the coats,” Bill said.

Being volunteers, I had wondered if these two had ever actually been down to Mexico to see what conditions are like for the children there. To see how the other half lives, so to speak.

“We did have an opportunity to go down to Mexico,” Linda said, “And we had not been past Sonora or into Hermosillo, and a lot of these people come up here from Hermosillo. And it gave a whole new meaning to how far and how difficult it is for them to get here. It would be like going from Flagstaff to here,” Linda said.

It is quite a journey to be traveling in a day’s time, and the people that come up to the clinic need to get a special one-day-pass that allows them to cross the border for their St. Andrew's visits.

“They got it worked out with the border where the clinic owns buses that transport families back and forth from the border, so they go and pick them up and bring them here,” Bill said.

After our short discussion, Bill and Linda were off to do their part in the day’s activities and duties. Seeing them gave a whole new meaning to volunteer work. You often forget about people who are out there helping others, until you see the love and dedication going on at the St. Andrew's Clinic.

For more info on how to get in on the action, visit:
Their website