Lindsay took its first step toward solidifying a partnership with the Mexican state of Michoacan on Sunday when it held its first of several fund-raisers to support projects benefiting the native birthplace of many of Lindsay's residents.

Virginia Loya, director of Lindsay's Friday Night Market, organized market vendors to cook and sell a variety of traditional Mexican dishes to sell for $1 to $2 at Sweet Brier Plaza.

“Most people in Lindsay are Hispanic and many of them from Michoacan,” Loya said. “We are trying to partner with Mexico to take care of these people either here or in Michoacan.”

Loya said the three-and-one project asks Lindsay to pay for 25% of a project in Michoacan, which in turn would pay for 25% of a project in Lindsay, such as the Wellness Center. Loya said Lindsay is trying to raise $25,000 to help remodel a rural school in Michoacan.

According to the 2000 Census, there are 35 million people of Hispanic descent in the U.S. with 76% of them of Mexican descent and “approximately 3 million of Michoacáno origin.” About 34% of them are in California, according to Michoacán's Migrant Agency. The Lindsay Unified School District said that 10% of its student population is from Michoacán, or 300 out of 3,000 students.

The Wellness Center is a nearly $6 million facility that will provide a bicultural approach to health care by combining traditional Western medicine with a holistic approach used in Mexico.

A host of services will be offered at the center including nutrition education, diabetes and obesity testing and treatment, senior day testing and treatment, senior day care, urgent care, cardiac rehabilitation, health screenings, physical therapy, dentistry, laboratory work, pharmacy and tele-medicine. Three story structure will include a demonstration kitchen, locker room, therapy pool, wading pool, administrative offices and a multi-purpose room on the first floor; fitness center, café and outdoor eating area on the second floor; and a physical therapy center on the third floor.

Work has already begun to build a new 25-yard pool that would replace the aging City Pool at City Park to meet California Interscholastic Federation and Amateur Athletic Union requirements for high school competitions. The city hopes to attract time trials and CIF sanctioned meets.

The project will also remodel the entire city-owned property surrounding the hospital. City Park will be reconfigured with a centralized picnic area; the current community swimming pool will be replaced with a soccer field; the Lindsay Public Golf Course will add senior housing; roundabouts will create an entryway from Elmwood Avenue to the Wellness Center; a new east-west street will be a added between Whitney and Sierra View streets; Vida Sana Medical Clinic, which currently is across Sequoia Avenue behind the hospital, will move onto the new street.

The genesis of the Wellness Center was to fill the gap in healthcare services left after the closure of the Lindsay District Hospital in 2000. The Lindsay Hospital Board, which still receives annual tax money from the state, signed an agreement for $1 million up front for construction and an annual contribution of $360,000 for operations over the next 40 years. The former hospital was razed in September to make way for the project.

In May 2006, a contingent of 23 people from Lindsay and an appointee to the Institute for Mexicans Abroad advisory group, flew to Mexico to meet face-to-face with potential supporters of a bi-national approach to the proposed Lindsay Wellness Center. After three days of non-stop meetings with every government department that might possibly be interested.

Mexican officials suggested establishing an office at the Wellness Center much like they have health consultants who make referrals for health needs now. Called a “Plaza Comunitaria,” the program is offered to Mexican nationals who desire to finish their educational studies that they began in Mexico, in the U.S. For more information on the Wellness Center, call Brad Albert with the City of Lindsay at 562-7117.

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