Extension magazine - Winter 2022

32 INSPIRE
Lumen Christi Past Recipient
Extension | Winter 2022 33
Santa Teresita of the Child Jesus Children’s Home, far left, incurred
damages from Hurricane Maria in 2017. Catholic Extension built the facility
and is helping to fortify it against future storms.
MELVA ARBELO
DIOCESE OF ARECIBO, PUERTO RICO
A STRONGER HOME FOR PUERTO RICO’S MOST VULNERABLE
AN UPDATE FROM OUR
2016-2017 LUMEN CHRISTI
AWARD RECIPIENT
Santa Teresita of the
Child Jesus Children’s
Home provides a protective
shelter for children
ages 3 to 7 who are
survivors of abuse and
neglect.
Five years ago, as Hurricane Maria
tore through Puerto Rico and
shredded buildings across the island,
Santa Teresita’s director,
Melva Arbelo, huddled with the
children inside the center’s walls.
She relived this scenario once
again when Hurricane Fiona hit
the island earlier this fall. The children
had already experienced
great trauma in their lives, and Arbelo
and her staff kept them safe
as both of these storms battered
their home and everything around
them.
The center, built with support
from Catholic Extension years ago,
remains standing, though it suffered
damage still seen today.
Just a year before Hurricane Maria
in 2017, Arbelo received Catholic
Extension’s Lumen Christi
Award for her work protecting and
extending God’s love to these most
vulnerable children. She was the
first person in Puerto Rico to receive
the award. She continues to
dedicate her life to keeping the
center afloat, weathering the yearslong
economic disaster that followed
the hurricane and continues
today.
Now, through the efforts of a recovery
team established by Catholic
Extension, the children’s home
has just been awarded a $1 million
grant from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) to
repair and fortify the facility to
withstand future natural disasters.
HOPE AMID THE RUBBLE
Arbelo started as a volunteer
when Santa Teresita opened its
doors in 1999 and has since lived
out its motto, which states, “It is our
joy to love you.”
Under her leadership, the shelter
includes integrated social services,
health care and psychology, nutrition,
education and prayer. Its work
is grounded in faith and provides
an environment where children
can grow closer to God, who they
are taught loves them infinitely.
“For me, this is more than work.
It’s a mission,” said Arbelo.
Despite government budget cuts,
Arbelo and her team are resourceful
in supporting the needs of more
children, with the ongoing generosity
of Extension donors. The home
can house up to 24 children at a
time, before they are placed in foster
care or adopted.
STEPPING UP AFTER THE STORM
Santa Teresita is among the
hundreds of Catholic ministries
and churches in Puerto Rico that
have saved lives and given hope to
impoverished communities after
Hurricane Maria. In the days and
months after the disaster, the federal
government and relief
agencies were slow
or unable to reach communities.
But the Catholic
Church never had this
problem. Its response was
similar after an earthquake
in early 2020 that
also devastated the island.
Catholic parishes, even
those that were destroyed,
immediately stepped into
action.
Soon after Hurricane Maria, a
policy change led to a new opportunity
for houses of worship to receive
rebuilding money from the
federal government. However,
Puerto Rico’s six dioceses, which
still did not even have power restored,
were ill-equipped to navigate
the complicated process.
Catholic Extension provided
2016 u 2017
Lumen
Christi
AWARD
RECIPIENT
seed money and organized an island-wide
initiative to help the
Puerto Rican Church meet the
first application deadline. Through
ABOVE 2016-2017 Lumen Christi Award
recipient Melva Arbelo shares God’s love
with vulnerable children in Puerto Rico.
the help of the Extension
recovery team, the Puerto
Rican Church is now in a
position to receive hundreds
of millions of dollars
in federal aid to rebuild
and fortify 1,000 damaged
churches and schools—including
Santa Teresita.
These rebuilt church
buildings will serve as
shelters in future natural
disasters and support the needs
of even more people. The recent
devastation caused by Hurricane
Fiona proves the need for building
a more resilient Puerto Rican
Church that can shelter, serve and
comfort the poor and vulnerable.
As Puerto Rico’s economic crisis
cripples government services, millions
of people have been left destitute.
The poverty rate is 45 percent.
The Catholic Church and its
ministries are more important
than ever as an increasing amount
of people seek its spiritual and
charitable care.
STRONGER THROUGH FAITH
Fortifying Santa Teresita will
mean more than just strengthening
its physical walls. Arbelo and
her ministry are poised to welcome
more of the most vulnerable
with loving arms and guide
them on the right path.
“Catholic Extension is the reason
our doors are still open today.
Its help meant that we could continue
to give these vital services to
the children, that we could continue
to bring about transformations
in their lives because they
truly need that,” Arbelo said.