St. Catherine of Siena Parish

St. Catherine sends $1,000 a month in financial support to the Portal de Belén Nursery School, in our sister parish, St. Anthony of Padua, Monte Plata, Dominican Republic. The money is raised from parishioner weekly contributions through the bowls at each entrance to the church.

"Portal de Belén" is from Spanish for the “manger at Bethlehem,” where Jesus was born. The school was opened in 1999. It is run by sisters of the Misioneras de Jesús, or Missionaries of Jesus. The school provides meals and supervision for 110 children, while their parents try to work, find work, or care for other family members at home.

For many of the children the school provides the only decent meal they get each day, and participants in the Portal program are better nourished than their average neighbor.

A typical breakfast is juice or milk, and bread with butter, cheese, or ham. For lunch the options include puréed pumpkin or squash with chicken; rice and vegetables with ground meat; spaghetti and a hard boiled egg; puréed vegetables with beef; rice and beans; and scrambled egg. Whenever possible there is a salad with items like cabbage, carrots and avocado.