Santa Maria del Mexicano, I.A.P.

Home for Boys, Girls and the Elderly in Colon, Queretaro, Mexico

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Director: Father Clifford Anthony Norman

Santa Maria is located 120 miles northwest of Mexico City in the state of Queretaro in the village of Colon. Santa Maria is staffed by the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity of Robstown, Texas and lay volunteers. The program is called Hand of Help, and was founded in 1974 by Father Clifford Norman. There are four homes at Santa Maria offering care and support in the context of a loving Christian community for pre-school and elementary school children, high school students, and senior citizens. The orphanage currently houses about 300 children and a nursing home for 20 elderly people. More than 3,000 children have gone through the program of Hand of Help. Father Norman has a pre-school, elementary school, and a junior high school to give a Catholic formation to students in this poor rural area. Each child is clothed, fed, sheltered, and educated for three U.S. dollars per day. Hand of Help is run on a shoestring budget with very low overhead. Your contributions effectively benefit the children and your contributions are tax deductible. Mexico is a young country-- half of the population of 85,000,000 is under 18 years of age. Between 1982 and 1988, one million Mexican children under 5 died of malnutrition. Every 24 hours throughout the country, 500 children under 5 years of age die due to malnutrition. Also, 5000 children daily suffer irreversible physical and/or mental damage due to malnutrition. Father Norman and Santa Maria are making a difference in the lives of unwanted and discarded children and elderly people.

"The Miracle Workers", Denver Post, May 2, 1992 and reprinted as well in the Catholic Digest, Dec. 1992

"Hand of Help Keeps Aiding Poor Despite Rising Costs", The Pecos Benedictine, August, 1991.

"Homelees Children and Elderly Cared for at Hand of Help", The Pecos Benedictine, August, 1992.

How can you help?

Volunteer a year or several months in active service.

Send basic materials to help the needy.

Make monetary donations.

Tell people about the program to so they can support and pray for the program as well.

How to contact Hand of Help and Father Norman:

To request more information or to just sign in, Click here. Its fast and easy.

To send money:

Father Clifford Anthony Norman

Hand of Help

Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity

P.O. Box 1406

Robstown Texas 78380

(Make checks payable to: Hand of Help c/o Fr. C. A. Norman)

E-Mail: david@amigo.net

Or visit the Santa Maria Foundation Online - Click Here

or to contract them directly in Mexico:

The main building complex at Santa Maria del Mexicano where the older kids are housed and the secondary scool is located. When the Hand of Help program first arrived here this building was just ruins from an old monestery. With help from donors and a lot of help from Father Norman and the kids it is at its present state.