With the Thanksgiving holiday closing in, it is time to place a bit of emphasis on a different type of tradition
with family and friends. The extremely talented and versatile Wendie Malick, who portrayed Mitch Buchannon's ex-wife
Gayle will soon be traveling to Tijuana, Mexico to do housing construction for the poor.
Wendie got started over 10 years ago when a friend, who was also
an actress, asked if she would be interested in joining a group from Brentwood Presbyterian Church, close to her
home near the mountains in Santa Monica that was doing housing construction in Tijuana, Mexico. Wendie had never done
anything like that before, so she thought that the experience would be interesting. A last minute call from her friend got
a an acting project and couldn't go. Wendie traveled with the Presbyterian group to give the experience a try. She
later described it as being one of the most remarkable weekends she had ever spent and met her future husband on the
very first night over the vegetarian spaghetti sauce.
Wendie's husband, Richard Erickson, a builder, had been traveling to Tijuana,
Mexico with the group for five years before the couple met. Richard was born in the Congo and spent his
first seven years growing up there. She traveled with Richard to different parts of the developing world. Wendie
began to see it differently. In 1995, Richard had the idea of getting a group of friends to go down for Thanksgiving
instead of stuffing themselves. They have been doing the trip every year. They called their group The Maverick
Building Squad.
Wendie found the conditions in Tijuana disturbing. Many children died from diseases
like pneumonia because of improper shelter. In recent years, companies like Sony and Samsung have been drawn to the city to
build plants and aquire cheap labor. This caused more people to move toward the area, especially on the poor soil of
the hillsides surrounding Tijuana. Many lost their homes in the 1994 floods, with most of them being just a little
more than cardboard shacks. The Maverick Building Squad was there among others to provide the needed solid housing.
She has stated that she wanted to help because she felt that she had such
an abundance in her life. Once you see how many people suffer and how little it takes for you to actually change
their lives for the better, it's hard not to do something.
