Padre Domingo Legua

FATHER DOMINGO LEGUA

Feeding the Hungry in the Dominican Republic

In the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo, the need for food is critical. We learned about the need from Father Domingo Legua, a priest whose collar is stained by the sweat of hard labor and soiled by the grime of a life lived alongside the poor. As director of the Archdiocese’s charitable arm, Fundación Ciento Por Uno, Fr. Legua encounters the damaging impact of hunger every day among the families he serves.

“Even when people are receiving food, it is poor nutrition. People will eat mangoes and that’s it,” Fr. Legua said. “Usually they only have one meal. The father goes to the central market early and gets fruits and vegetables to sell from his tricycle. After that day’s work, and after paying for the rental of the tricycle, he gets home with whatever is left of the food, and that’s when the family eats. It’s breakfast, lunch and dinner all at once. That is what happens with families in the capital city. For families in the countryside, it’s worse. They eat whenever they can, whatever they can.”

SAVING LIVES WITH VITAFOOD

 

Concerned for the welfare of children weak with hunger and falling asleep at school, Fr. Legua sought the help of Cross Catholic Outreach and decided to test the Vitafood on a group of pregnant teens. The result was that not only did the teens give birth to healthy babies, but they were also able to grind up the Vitafood and use it as baby food.

With Vitafood, Fr. Legua also saved the lives of two starving siblings. At age 11, José weighed just 40 pounds; his 6-year-old sister Juanita just 25 pounds. Both children were HIV-positive like their mother, who had no job and could not afford to give them the nutrition their sick bodies desperately needed. They were at death’s door when the Vitafood arrived, helping them put on weight and regain their health.

“It has saved my children’s lives,” their mother said. “The rice is a miracle from God. Thank you with all my heart.”

Today, many other Josés and Juanitas are still in need of a morsel of food to dull their hunger pangs. Fr. Legua yearns to save each and every one of them. The Archdiocese has a huge capacity to receive and distribute meals, and Fr. Legua is confident that with your help, he can get more meals into the hands of the hungry. He is driven in this endeavor by his deep faith in Christ. Service to the least is service to God.

 

“We have to give what God put in our hands, and give back more,” he said. “Jesus says, ‘Do this in my name.’ And he is not only referring to the Mass and the Holy Eucharist. It’s about going beyond the Mass and Communion. When we go to Mass and celebrate the Eucharist, we celebrate that Jesus gave himself as food for our souls. So the same thing that Jesus did for me and those who believe in Jesus, this is what we need to do for others in his name.”  

Fuente. http://www.crosscatholic.org/FrLegua