Blessed John Paul II High School students, in the spiritual giving of Blessed John Paul II, helped a family in need this weekend. The students committed the full weekend of work in hopes of giving an elderly man a chance to bring his wife home from the nursing home.
A group of students, staff and parents entered Holy Week by working with Catholic Charities to do repairs and maintenance on one of the Colonias just outside of Corpus Christi. Misión Las Colonias or Mission to Las Colonias has become an annual project for Catholic Charities dedicated to providing a safe home environment for families by rebuilding or repairing their houses.
The list of projects included building a wheelchair ramp, installing a new floor, installing new appliances, cleaning up the yard and planting a garden and fruit tree. Teachers and parents served as consultants while the high school students did most of the work.
The elderly man, whose home was chosen in a scouting trip by coordinators from Catholic Charities and Blessed John Paul II High School, suffers from debilitating illnesses, which make it extremely difficult for him to work on the house. He has been able to manage his diabetes but says he is been suffering terribly from lung problems he developed while working for a crop duster in his younger days.
His wife is in a nursing home where she receives dialysis more than once a week so he specifically requested the construction of a wheelchair ramp in hopes of one day being able to bring her home and enjoy the renovations with him.
The goals of the Colonias mission trip, April 11-13, is that students seek out, serve, and love Christ in the persons of our brothers and sisters in need, in obedience to Christ's mandate in Matthew 25.