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CreSer Chapala A.C.
THE VISION
The Centro de Saberes Mezcala is envisioned as a living space that houses and activates the knowledge of local communities in the Lake Chapala basin, the largest freshwater body in Mexico. Its greater purpose is to become a transformative vortex rooted in cultural memory, reciprocal exchange, and deep nourishment from the genuine source of place: its people, their culture, and their traditions.
From this core, processes of learning and co-creation are made possible, fostering the rebirth of local wisdom as a vital force to imagine and practice new ways of inhabiting, producing, and relating—aimed at manifesting a just, healthy, and regenerative life economy, rooted in our origins and open to generative dialogue with the world.
This purpose unfolds in three interconnected phases:
1
The construction and development of the Centro de Saberes in Mezcala as physical, symbolic, and community infrastructure
2
The “Sponge” operation, oriented toward transformative exchange with the immediate environment—the lake and surrounding communities—amplifying the circulation of living water (revitalization of wells and strategic water points in the sponge zone, as well as rainwater harvesting and flow), ancestral knowledge, practices, and relationships (e.g., ancestral guiding routes, tourism, festivals, and traditional rituals), integrating the evolving reality of the place (visitors and residents from other cultures and ways of relating)
3
The understanding and monitoring of the Center’s broader impact, exploring its influence across the Lerma–Santiago basin and surrounding regions, in order to comprehend and recognize its territorial, cultural, and socio-ecological impact at a larger scale.
CreSer Chapala
Overview
CreSer Chapala is a community-based organization that works with Indigenous and rural communities along the shores of Lake Chapala in Jalisco, supporting processes of social, cultural, and environmental regeneration in contexts of high vulnerability.
It does so through initiatives that strengthen community bonds, care for the territory, and promote the transmission of knowledge across generations. For over six years, the organization has promoted projects that strengthen the social fabric through community kitchens, educational programs for children and youth, and workshops focused on organic agriculture, land stewardship, and the recovery of traditional knowledge.
One of its core projects is the Escuela de Saberes (School of Knowledge), a community-based educational initiative that integrates local knowledge such as fishing, agriculture, crafts, and land care with value-based learning processes centered on cooperation and buen vivir (collective well-being).
Currently, CreSer is working toward the construction of this educational space in 2026, consolidating it as a permanent place for gathering, learning, and intergenerational knowledge exchange.
Three years ago, the organization also began developing an agroecological space on a community ranch, where weekly classes in organic agriculture, community work, artistic expression, and embroidery take place.
This space serves as an intergenerational meeting point where youth, children, and elders come together to share knowledge, strengthen community ties, and keep traditional knowledge alive.
Through these processes, CreSer Chapala seeks to build pathways of dignity, autonomy, and hope for new generations, promoting a more just and respectful relationship with the land and community life.
THE STORY
Rooted in Lake Chapala, Growing for Generations
Along the northeastern shore of Lake Chapala — in Mezcala, San Pedro Itzicán, Agua Caliente, and neighboring villages — Indigenous Coca communities are facing overlapping crises: deep poverty, chronic childhood malnutrition, and the highest documented rate of kidney disease of unknown origin in the world.
For more than five years, CreSer Chapala A.C. has walked alongside these communities. Through five community kitchens, educational workshops, and emotional support, we work to ensure that children and families have the minimum conditions of nutrition, care, and accompaniment they need to live with dignity and imagine a future.
Now, together with local families, we are taking the next step: creating the Mezcala School of Knowledge — a community-led school and meeting place that strengthens identity, regenerates the land, and becomes a point of care for those most affected along the Chapala shoreline.
WHY THIS SCHOOL MATTERS
Health, Dignity, Culture, and Land Under One Warm Roof
Health & Nutrition: A Space for Community Well-being
Many children in the region grow up with long-term malnutrition and early kidney damage, while their families struggle to access healthy food and medical care. Through our five community kitchens in Mezcala, San Pedro Itzicán, La Peña, Los Mangos, and Rancho CreSer, we serve thousands of meals each month and distribute around 300 food baskets to families living with kidney disease, disability, or abandonment.
The Mezcala School of Knowledge will be the heart of this support network:
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A bright community dining hall where children, elders, and families can share dignified meals every day.
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A place for health, hygiene, and emotional-care workshops to prevent disease and support healing.
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A welcoming space for people living with kidney disease to gather, rest, and find accompaniment.
Work, Land, and Local Dignity
Many children in the region grow up with long-term malnutrition and early kidney damage, while their families struggle to access healthy food and medical care. Through our five community kitchens in Mezcala, San Pedro Itzicán, La Peña, Los Mangos, and Rancho CreSer, we serve thousands of meals each month and distribute around 300 food baskets to families living with kidney disease, disability, or abandonment.
The Mezcala School of Knowledge will be the heart of this support network:
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A bright community dining hall where children, elders, and families can share dignified meals every day.
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A place for health, hygiene, and emotional-care workshops to prevent disease and support healing.
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A welcoming space for people living with kidney disease to gather, rest, and find accompaniment.
Cultural Regeneration & Ancestral Knowledge
A Living Center of Knowledge
The Mezcala School of Knowledge is imagined as a “Centro de Saberes” — a Center of Knowledge where ancestral wisdom and contemporary tools come together in service of life in the basin.
In this space, children, youth, adults, and elders will be able to learn:
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Indigenous language and music (Nahuatl and local songs), storytelling, and art.
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Clay and natural-dye workshops connected to the element of Earth — seed bank, soil, and remedies.
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Practices linked to Water — the lake, fishing, and community-led ecological monitoring.
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Wind spaces for music, voice, and collective memory.
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Fire spaces for ceremonies, dreams, and spiritual connection.
The school will be a sanctuary where identity is honored, elders are listened to, and children grow up knowing that their knowledge — and their territory — are valuable.
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THE VISION
A School Shaped by the Land and the Sun
CreSer Chapala has acquired a piece of land in Mezcala, right off the main highway and very close to the lake. Here, with the community, we will build a school and community center that functions as a biocultural regeneration hub for the Chapala basin.
Through field visits and community dialogue, our team has studied the micro-watershed and the broader Chapala region. The School of Knowledge is envisioned as a “sponge of wisdom” — absorbing ancestral teachings and present-day science and then returning them to the territory as new practices for soil, water, and community care, “giving life like water” to future generations.
Phase 1
Heart of the Center
Estimated: $250,000
Phase 1 focuses on building the essential spaces that allow the school to start beating like a heart:
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Community dining hall and kitchen
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Rainwater capture system and water-treatment area
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Bathrooms and service areas
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Basic storage, access, and foundational infrastructure
These elements will make it possible to offer daily meals, host workshops, and welcome children, elders, and families in a dignified way from the very beginning.
Your generosity carries us forward, allowing us to step into Phase 2 with hope, purpose, and gratitude.
MASTER PLAN
Other Supporting Documents
These materials are shared with care and intention. Each document represents many hands, many voices, and many moments of listening—offered to support a vision rooted in learning, culture, and collective responsibility.
They are not endpoints, but living guides, shaped by community wisdom and the hope of what can grow when knowledge is honored and shared. We offer them humbly, in the spirit of transparency, reciprocity, and respect for the journey we are walking together.
-CreSer Chapala A.C
What Your Support Makes Possible
A place that nourishes
Your support keeps five community kitchens open, serving thousands of hot meals each month to children, elders, and families affected by poverty and kidney disease.
A place that generates
The campus will host nurseries, compost, edible forests, and seed banks — projects that regenerate soil and water while creating local work and income for the community.
A place that teaches
Workshops in agriculture, health, arts, guiding, and community psychology will allow children, youth, adults, and elders to learn side by side, building confidence and shared knowledge.
A place that protects
Safe, loving spaces will welcome people living with kidney disease, children with disabilities, and abandoned elders — offering accompaniment, nourishment, and dignity.
A place that honors the ancestors
Cultural practices that sustain identity, belonging, and intergenerational strength.
Together, these become the foundation for a future of dignity, health, and hope — all beginning in a school built with love.
Join Us in Building the Mezcala School of Knowledge
By supporting this project, you are helping to build more than a building. You are joining a collective effort to regenerate Lake Chapala from its roots, strengthen Indigenous dignity, and ensure that children grow up nourished in body, heart, and spirit.
CreSer Chapala A.C. has functioning infrastructure, trained community staff, and a proven track record of continuous work with measurable results. We are ready to report back, sign collaboration agreements, and walk together in long-term partnership.
“Giving life like water — that is our mission.”
— CreSer Chapala A.C.
Help us fill their empty jar with LOVE and HOPE
Let us help make their wishes come true.
Your donation brings care, warmth, and hope where it’s needed most.
Progress
Offerings may be shared here by those who are moved to support this journey
International Wire Transfer Instructions
(USA → Mexico)
BENEFICIARY INFORMATION
Account Holder Name:
CRESER CHAPALA AC
Beneficiary Address:
Ramón Corona 133, San Antonio Tlayacapan, Chapala, Jalisco, México, CP 45922
BENEFICIARY BANK
Bank Name: BBVA México, S.A.
Bank Address:
Paseo de la Reforma 510, Colonia Juárez, Alcaldía Cuauhtémoc, Ciudad de México, CP 06600, México
SWIFT/BIC Code:
BCMRMXMMPYM
Account Information
CLABE (Account Number): 012320001206844656
BBVA Account Number:
0120684465
RFC:
ENG140722UX7
Additional Details:
Currency: USD (to be converted to MXN by BBVA)
Purpose of Payment:
Donation / Community Support
(If the sending bank requires an intermediary/correspondent bank, please use Citibank N.A., New York, as correspondent for BBVA México.
"Blessed are those who choose kindness—for the future, and for every child without privilege."
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