It all started one night in 2005, with a group of five friends having one of their classic weekly dinner outs. Their names were Fernando Mitrani, Isaac Levy, José Cattan, Ari Syrquin, and Benjamin Laniado. While they were casually enjoying their meal, the TV screens of the restaurant showed the damage caused by the hurricane Stan as it passed through the Mexican state of Chiapas. The conventional response to these images would have been a detached concern — a look permeated with empathy but sheltered in one’s own comfort. And that would have been the case any other day. That night, however, a change emerged in that small group of friends. A sense that they could and, probably should, take action began to circulate among them. From such a moment of clarity, the first aid delivery we organized as CADENA came into existence. We provided hand-in-hand aid to vulnerable communities in Chiapas. Over time, this would lead to shaping every distinctive mark that nowadays sets us apart as an organization.
