OCEANSIDE — It’s not often that an announcement at Sunday Mass changes your life.
But it happened 11 years ago to Jim Napier, of St. Margaret Parish in Oceanside, when (now Deacon) Charles Navarrete stepped up to the ambo to make a presentation about his 501(c)(3) nonprofit, The Emiliani Project.
At the time, Napier felt that he had “been blessed my whole life” and that he “needed to find a way to give back.” The deacon’s presentation provided him with a vehicle to do that.
As he listened, Napier thought, “That’s perfect. That’s exactly what I want to do. I don’t want to just give money. I want to be physically, hands-on involved in doing this.”
The Emiliani Project was founded in 2012 by Deacon Navarrete and two other military veterans — Jordan Reece and Jason Schwartz. Construction began in 2015 and continues today in the small mountain village of Caldas, south of Medellin, Colombia.
In July 2023, the first 14 children arrived at the 11.5-acre property, which is known as Hogar de Cristo (The Home of Christ), a home for orphaned, abandoned and abused children. Today, the site includes two dormitories that house 27 children, ages 3 to 17, with
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