Pt1bli& H ealtli and Social Welfare Work
which they called Our Lady of Refuge Home, commonly known as Refuge of Charity in El Paso. This was the beginning of their hardships. Mother Mary of the Immaculate Conception Escobar had the simple faith of a child. "We had never before faced such poverty. The food was sometimes only hard bread ... every moment away from duty had to be employed in producing the needle work to save us from starvation." But by 1936, she lightly could say, "Here we are at San Juan, poor but happy, as was at one time the Infant Jesus in Nazareth. Divine Providence watches over us and those he has confided to our care. Nothing has failed us, thanks to Divine Providence." The Refuge Home was a going concern now and a chapel was constructed that year where all could attend Mass daily and frequent the Sacraments. The Refuge Home, thanks to the generosity of its benefactors, was both an orphanage and a home for Magdalenes. In 1936, a separate building was erected for them, with a laundry. Neither the orphanage nor the home for girls were on the Community Chest charities and the Sisters still went from month to month largely on faith. "On one occa- sion," says the trustful Mother Superior, "the light and water bills were big and we had no money to pay them that month, so we placed the bills by the statue of St. Joseph and asked him to provide for the children. A short time later, the required amount was received from a Fort Bliss Officer. " 79 The work of the good Sisters has been kept up and help has come to them as needs arise. In 1944 the Pan American Optimist Club donated $2500 for new classrooms for the orphans and in 1947 the same organ- ization gave them much needed equipment for the girls' playground and helped defray the expenses of the gas installation. Three more classrooms, two halls, and three bathrooms were added to the Refuge Home and Orphanage that same year. Homes for tl,e Aged. St. Vincent's Home for the aged was founded in San Antonio by the Sisters of Saint Benedict, who first came to Texas on June 19, 1919 and settled in Las Gallinas, Texas. The foundress, Mother M. Ledwina Weber, O.S.B. brought Sisters to San Antonio from the Isle of Pines, Cuba. She first established the Motherhouse in Texas in San Antonio, until it was moved to Gallinas. The principal work of the Order is teaching, nursing, and the care of the aged. The first Home '1'9Personal account sent to the Author by Mother St. Victor of Our Lady of Charity Monastery, El Paso, July S, 1951.
Powered by FlippingBook