Nicolas Bareño

President of Grupo de Apoyo Ray Thomas (G.A.R.T.) in Mexico.

Nicolas Bareño Dominguez was born in Ensenada, Baja California del Norte. He served in the Baja California Sur State Congress, and also in the La Paz Police Force.

An avid softball and baseball player, he became immediate friends with Ray Thomas; together, coordinating Baja’s first ever softball tournament. Through their relationship built upon a mutual love of sports, Nico and Ray decided to form a foundation dedicated to faciltating the distribution of donated sporting goods from the United States to the children and families throughout the Baja. The group began to organize sports programs, offering deserving youth a chance to play ball. In 2001, G.A.R.T. was made a Mexican non-profit organization, and Nico was elected as the President.

Much of the foundation's success in its fight against poverty, is achieved through Nico's strong relationships with state and federal officials. His industrious spirit and energetic networking skills are crucial to the foundations ability to make things move on a large scale. Nico Bareño is a man of the people, for the people. When asked about his short term goals, he speaks of expansion and his desire to "allow more kids to play more sports in more towns, school breakfast programs, grants for family businesses, and building community activity centers". His long term goals are just as ambitious, and with the help of more volunteers, generous sponsors and a government-approved annual budget, his hopes for Baja California are becoming more real every day.