Padre Alberto Gauci

PROJECTS

Here at the mission, we have several projects that we work on, some that were established years ago, others not so long ago, and of course there is our most recent endeavor, the Sports Stadium. This page was created to provide you with a summary of our projects.

Sports Stadium

The Sports Stadium, "Nuevo Estadio de Football de Juticalpa" is our most recent and largest project ever. Largest in terms of both the magnitude of the project and its costs. In Honduras, football as it is called here, is played with a passion and almost everyone knows how to play it or is in the process of learning. When I first arrived in Honduras, the social problems confronting the youth were drugs and alcohol abuse, which coupled with a failed promise to deliver a stadium, prompted me together with locals to finally build a sports stadium. It is almost completed and if all goes well, we should be finished by the end of 2012, in just a few weeks time. The hope of this new facility is that it will positively affect the youth, provide them with a healthy choice to expend all their energy and to develop healthy attitudes that naturally come with sports activities. This project has been a much need inclusion in Honduran society and all are anxiously awaiting the opening day.

Orphanage

The Orphanage, "Hogar de Niños Santa Maria de Los Angeles," is where many of our little ones in our community live. Currently, we have 34 little angels living with us, whose smiling faces and sincere hearts are a welcome inclusion into the mission. Prior to our orphanage, many of the children in Olancho were living on the streets, some even born on them. That is how poor the situation was when I first arrived here. As a Franciscan and part of the Roman Catholic Church such a state was unacceptable. Not only did we identify the problem, but we provided a solution, our orphanage. Many of these children first arrived, dirty and without proper clothing, but radiant in angelic smiles. We were elated to receive every one of them. All of our children are properly clothed and fed, receive an education and sleep in clean beds at night. They attract and deserve our attention and love, and let me tell you, that is exactly what they get!

Nutrition Plus

At the mission, there are three projects that for the sake of this web site, we have categorized into the heading of "Nutrition Plus," and they are: The Nutritional Center, "Centro Nutricional San Francisco," The Kindergarten San Francisco de Asis and The Medical Clinic, "Clinica Parroquial Santa Clara." These three projects are also intertwined with each other. My parish is located at the outskirts of Juticalpa, among some of the poorest neighborhoods. Together with the Franciscan Sisters of the parish, we established these three projects as part of our outreach efforts to meet the needs of the parish community.

Old Age Home

The Old Age Home, "Hogar de Ancianos Paz y Bien," is the home of many of the seniors in our community who are afforded with the opportunity to live out their remaining years with dignity and in an atmosphere of love. Like the children of the streets, the elderly were also very neglected when I first arrived in Honduras. Many pleaded with me to do something for the elderly. One day, at our doorstep was an elderly man, who had passed away and was wrapped in a plastic bag. That was no way for a person to die. It was from that moment on that I endeavored to do something about the urgent need to help the elderly. Together with the help of many locals, we constructed an old age home that is now known all over Olancho for the service we provide.

National Penitentiary

The National Penitentiary The Catholic Church in Honduras always had a well established prison ministry, but what was lacking was a proper prison facility. In addressing this situation, I recalled the words of Christ, "...that I was in prison and you visited me..." (Matthew 25:36) Meeting the needs of the prisoners meant addressing the very crowded and unhygienic conditions. To rectify this problem, the Catholic Church endeavored to build a new prison, one that was large enough to handle the amount of prisoners. Today, all prisoners now live in a facility that was properly built to house over 500 inmates and afford them the opportunity to live, study and work proper to the dignity of human beings.

The Bakery

The Bakery, "Panaderia Paz y Bien" was established in 2003 to not only feed the community, but to raise funds. The bakery to this day, continues to be self sufficient and provides money for our other projects. Our baked goods have become a community favorite and we need no advertising, the smell from the bakery draws crowds daily!