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Concepción, Chile, May 28, 2017 / 04:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Three years ago the Church in Chile launched “Lavandería 21,” a new work inclusion project for people with Downs syndrome, whose results today far exceed what was hoped.
It all began in 2012 when the Archbishop Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib of Concepción learned of this successful initiative in Europe and the United States, and so he decided to organize one in his archdiocese.
Thus was opened in 2014 “Lavandería 21” – which takes its name from the third copy of chromosome 21 which causes Down syndrome.
“It is a unique project in Latin America,” Paula Abarzua, a special ed teacher and part of the team in charge of the laundry, told CNA.
Abarzua explained that the project began with 11 young people and currently there are 15, in addition to six others who now work at the Archdiocese of Concepción or the Betania Retirement Home.
There are two work shifts, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Customers include clinics, hotels, and buses.
As regards the work process, Abarzua said that “the guys are the ones who sort out, separate, weigh the laundry, and load the machines.”
“Also, when the washing process is over, they remove the laundry and put it in the dryer. After that it goes on to be ironed and folded.”
Abarzua has been working with the young people since the project started and said that “they’ve changed a lot.”
“They now feel more autonomous, independent, the fact they receive their salary increases their sense of self worth a lot,” she said.
In addition, “the personal growth, the maturity they’ve gained and the commitment to their work is very satisfying for us here. They value their work.”
For Abarzua “the fact that we’re under the Church’s wing shows that it is really committed to the issue of inclusion and it ought to be an idea that is replicated throughout the world.”
Vatican City, May 28, 2017 / 04:21 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On the Feast of the Ascension, Pope Francis said that when Jesus rose into heaven, he entrusted his Church with the great and dignified responsibility of spreading his Word and making it accessibl… […]
Editor’s note: The following commencement address was given on Thursday, May 25, 2017, at The Cambridge School of Dallas. ———– “We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and […]
Denver, Colo., May 27, 2017 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In response to Denver’s large homeless population, the city is providing lockers for the homeless to place their belongings so they can take better advantage of local outreach programs.
If the homeless are worried about where to place their belongings and “don’t have access to safe, secure storage and those are all your possessions in the world,” then they aren’t going to utilize available resources said Julie Smith, a spokesperson from Denver Human Services, to the Denverite May 23.
Ten storage units were added to a street downtown, where many homeless shelters are located. Smith explained the containers will hold about as much stuff as will fit into a shopping cart, and can be reserved for 30 days with the option of an additional 30 day renewal. The sidewalk lockers cost about $3,000 for each installment.
Teaming up with the Saint Francis Center, Denver is also planning on adding 200 more storage spaces at the organizations employment service center, located near the city’s capital building. The contract between the city of Denver and the Saint Francis Center will start on June 1 and with $130,000 for the first year of storage space. After that, the center will then be given $100,000 a year if the contract continues.
Smith said the pilot program will measure the use and frequency of the storage systems, and will reassess in year. However, she said in order to access these lockers the person must be actively involved in one of Denver’s many homeless services.
Denver’s Road Home has over 20 community based organizations aiding thousands of homeless people to find a job, skill train, long term and short term shelters as well as providing food and clothing. According to their website, nearly a thousand people were provided with housing last year.
Part of Denver’s many programs is the Saint Francis Center, an Episcopal ministry serving homeless and ex-offenders. It was established in 1983 and has since developed career services and a housing program. An additional program providing permanent lower income housing will be made available in 2017 or 2018.
In 2015, the center served an average of 811 people per day, distributed nearly 90,000 units of clothing, and facilitated jobs for just under 400 people.
Colorado has a large homeless population, and it has increased by over six percent between 2015 and 2016, according to an annual report by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. Over 10,000 people were considered homeless in 2016, and less than one third of that do not have a shelter.
Genoa, Italy, May 27, 2017 / 09:54 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis celebrated Mass for the feast of the Ascension in Genoa Saturday, telling faithful that Jesus never leaves us alone and is constantly praying and interceding for us to the Father.
&l… […]
Vatican City, May 27, 2017 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Saturday Pope Francis paid a visit to the Italian diocese of Genoa, where he had lengthy Q&A sessions with youth, the city’s working class, and their bishops, priests and religious, c… […]
Rome, Italy, May 27, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Priests in Iraq are helping reconstruct around 13,000 homes in the Plain of Nineveh which have been damaged or destroyed by ISIS so that Christians will have a place to come back to.
To accomplish this, the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has created a Commission for the Reconstruction of Nineveh.
Besides celebrating Mass, the priests also serve as surveyors and obtain electric service and materials for the reconstruction of homes. The first work is being done in places that ISIS occupied for a short time and where there is not a lot of material damage.
One of the members of this project is Fr. Georges Jahola, a Syrian Catholic priest from Qaraqosh.
The priest told ACN that “here in Iraq if the Church doesn’t do these things, who’s going to do them? We have the capacity to act and do the talking, and also the contacts.”
The reconstruction of the Plain of Nineveh includes five Chaldean Christian villages: Badnaya, Karamlesh, Telleskof, Bakofa and Telkef, located in the eastern part.
Fr. Salar Boudagh, another member of this initiative, said that $7,000 is needed to renovate a lightly damaged home. To restore a burned home costs $25,000 and to reconstruct a totally destroyed home runs $65,000.
“We have begun the reconstruction of Telleskof and Bakofa, because there damage to the homes is not too serious, as opposed to what is happening in Badnaya where 80 percent of the homes are destroyed,” the priest said.
“Before the arrival of the Islamic State 1,450 families lived in Telleskof, 110 in Bakofa, 950 in Badnaya, another 700 in Telkef and 875 in Karamlesh,” said Fr. Boudagh, who is also the Vicar General of the Chaldean Diocese of Alqosh.
“For these families, the first condition to return to their villages is security.”
The priest emphasized that “our area, the eastern part of the Nineveh Plain, is controlled by a Christian security force, the Zeravani, who are guaranteeing us 100 percent security. It’s an official militia which is paid by Kurdistan.”
In Qaraqosh, 6,327 houses of Syrian Catholics and 400 homes of Syrian Orthodox Christians must be rebuilt.
Fr. Jahola explained that after the liberation of Qaraqosh from the control of the jihadists, an operation which took place in November and December of 2016, 6,000 houses in the city were photographed. These were divided into sectors and classified according to the level of damage.
“There are very damaged or totally destroyed homes that would would need to be rebuilt from the ground up, burned homes or hit by a missile that can be restored, and finally, there are homes partially damaged the we can renovate with little means,” he said.
“When we began we had a team of 20 volunteer engineers; now we have 40 and some 2,000 workers ready to begin work. We’re optimists, since electric service is slowly being restored throughout the city,” Fr. Jahola said.
© Catholic World Report