May 2012 - Serving the disabled

One of the heartbreaking aspects of our ministry at the Lord’s Food Bank in Juarez, Mexico, is our limited ability to help the poor who live with some kind of disability. While we can bring them weekly groceries and pay some of their utility bills, beyond food and friendship we don’t have a lot to offer them. Nor are there any places nearby for them to go for physical therapy, occupational rehab or other similar services. Life for a handicapped person can be hard enough, but struggling with poverty on top of that can make it crushingly difficult.

Like for Cecilio, who is a 42 year old diabetic and lost a leg from complications of the disease. He lives alone with only neighbors to help him. There are few paved streets where he lives and the ones that are can be extremely steep. It takes athletic prowess to maneuver a wheelchair over the rocky and sandy roads.


Or Lluvia, who was born at 5 months. Her mom did not know she was pregnant because she had 18 ovarian tumors at the time. It was during surgery to remove the tumors that the doctors discovered the baby. Lluvia stopped breathing many times the night she was born, but she survived and is now 9 years old. Lluvia is blind and unable to speak, but she can hear. Her mom can't work outside the home because there is no one else to care for Lluvia, so we help with what they need to survive.


One desire we have is to get a wheelchair accessible van so we can pick people up and bring them to the Food Bank for the day. That way they could receive a hot meal, attend one of our Bible studies or Masses, and have a chance to interact socially with others in the community.

We are asking the Lord to show us how we can do more to help our beautiful brothers and sisters who face such challenges living with disabilities.

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