With this year’s Sister Parish Collection, we hope to support Fr Tony’s plans
- to build a wall around the upper school to provide much needed security in a (very) high crime area which will provide a green space for students to use as a sanctuary.
- He also hopes to complete much needed COVID deferred maintenance on both the lower and upper schools and
- to begin planning for a friary at San Tomas (a former chapel of Santa Ana) so the assigned priest can live among his flock.
- support the school children’s health issues
In an area with few government services, Fr. Tony Wilson OFM (a friar/ Holy Name Province) and the people of the parish have built up a vibrant parish and parish school that serves pre-K through high school. Most of the students live in shanties or very basic adobe structures, without sewer and heat to fend off the chilly and damp winters. Health issues, including malnutrition, vitamin deficiencies, and parasites are pervasive among the children, adding to the burdens of their life. It is all part of the cycle of poverty. While the Santa Ana school provides a quality education, there’s the pervasive impact of poverty in the parish reflected by rampant dietary deficiencies, anemia, and parasites among the children. Always an issue, the problem has been exacerbated by the lingering effects of the COVID pandemic. We hope to transport several hundred pounds of children’s vitamins to Lima to help Fr Tony address this problem. Children’s vitamins in Peru are of poor quality and are outrageously expensive. From 2007 to 2019 our annual mission trips provided a means to bring duffel bags full of “gummies” as personal baggage. Currently, conditions in on the ground in Peru are not yet conducive to sending a van full of parishioners, but we are working on other ways to get vitamins to the children. These plans are a work-in-progress.
The Santa Ana school provides a quality education in a parish where the vast number of families live in poverty and educational opportunities are few. Years of hard fought economic progress were wiped out by the COVID pandemic and its accompanying economic devastation. For the future of the children of the parish it is vital that highly qualified and motivated faculty be retained and COVID deferred maintenance / improvements to both the lower and upper school begin. Finally, the pervasive impact of poverty in the parish is directly reflected in the vitamin deficiency and anemia prevalent among the children. Always an issue, the problem has been exacerbated by the lingering effects of the COVID epidemic. Supporting children’s education and health is both charity and social justice – the two feet of love in action. Your help is needed Now!