"The poor you will always have with you." These words of Jesus highlight the fact that there will never be an easy solution to the problem of poverty, but that doesn´t stop Catholic World Mission from fighting poverty at the root. Founded in 1998, Catholic World Mission partners with charitable organizations to support programs in education, evangelization, medical missions and disaster relief around the world.

The executive director Rick Medina recently visited several schools in Mexico that have been supported by Catholic World Mission.

“To say that the week was an overwhelming experience is an under-statement,” he said. “The magnitude of both impressive success and dire need touched “my heart and served to strengthen my resolve to help free these families and communities from the constraints of poverty through the formation of Catholic education.”

Medina mentioned needs at some of the schools that CWM supports, such as Mano Amiga Santa Catarina and Mano Amiga Monterrey, where about 1000 students in each school share a single bathroom facility, and a school in Puebla where students say Mass under a tree and need electricity in their classrooms. As the new school year starts, CWM is attempting to raise money for these projects and many others.

CWM is also partnering with another non-profit to build a medical clinic in Ghana, where 80,000 children die each year from preventable diseases. The clinic project is part of an overall mission in Ghana to improve medical services through shipments of medicines, clinic supplies, hospital beds, and building materials to ensure people living in even very remote areas have access to healthcare. Medina says that “this is an interesting story about how people collaborate. The people of the village donated the land and helped put up the nurses’ residence. They also have local villagers committed to staff the clinic to help their own people. This is one of those stories where everyone has a hand in the solution. When people and organizations work together towards a common goal, their limited resources are multiplied. This is pretty much how we operate at Catholic World Mission.”

As part of their work in disaster relief, CWM has also recently partnered with the Missionaries of the Poor, and has been sending money to the religious order in Kenya after hearing that 9 MOP brothers in Nairobi are doing their best to feed 3,000 or more people in a community when they only have food to feed 275 people one meal per day.

Evangelization is one of the Catholic World Mission ‘pillars of support.’ Last year they supported over 50 full and part-time missionaries in South and Latin America. These are missionaries who go from village to village to proclaim the word of God, bringing hope to people and assisting priests in their apostolic work. CWM also started supporting the Legionaries of Christ in their missionary work around the world. Currently, CWM is discussing ways to support the Regnum Christi Mission Corps program, a program that gives young people the opportunity to volunteer 1-2 years in the service of the Church.

“One of the things I have always prayed about is to be able to promote and support evangelistic efforts here in our home soil of the United States.” Medina explains. “I am in awe of the level of maturity and faith of our youth who are willing to give 1 to 2 years of their lives to bring the message of Christ wherever it is needed here in the U.S. We are in discussions with several members of RCMC to get their stories and understand the impact of their work so we can competently allow our donors to see why this is a type of work worthy of their support.”

In all of these efforts, CWM counts on the support of generous donors, but Medina realizes that God is the origin of the organization, and doing His work is the goal.

“Catholic World Mission allows me to connect good people with other people less fortunate. But it goes beyond material help, and this is more important than anything else - we bring the love of God and the promises of Christ to everyone we meet. At CWM, together with our donors and the people we serve, we give praise to God for his generosity through our work.”

For more information on Catholic World Mission and the organizations it supports, visit: www.catholicworldmission.org or email info@catholicworldmission.org.