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 capacity for twice that; shower and dining facilities; five classrooms; a technology lab; and playgrounds, where — as Napier says — “the children can, once again, enjoy just being children.”
The Emiliani Project describes itself as “a 100% volunteer organization.” Even its board of directors, including Deacon Navarrete as president, and its staff are unpaid volunteers.
The organization was named after St. Jerome Emiliani, a 16th-century Italian priest and former soldier, who founded the Somascan Fathers. The patron saint of orphans and abandoned children, he was known for supporting war orphans and establishing shelters and schools for them.
Napier, who turns 80 in November, began volunteering with The Emiliani Project in 2015 and made his first trip to Colombia the next year. He’s visited every year since, with the exception of 2020, when the Colombian government restricted travel because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Construction began last November on a 120-capacity church, named after St. Jerome Emiliani. It is scheduled for completion by the end of the year. Napier plans to participate in a mission trip in November to help complete the church.
At Hogar de Cristo, children receive shelter, three balanced meals a day, an education, and the opportunity to know God and his love for them, said Napier, who contrasted this with what the typical Colombian child might find elsewhere.
“The standard in Colombia generally is one to two meals a day,” he said. As a result, the children at Hogar de Cristo are “growing at a faster rate … They’re thriving.”
Napier said that The Emiliani Project has an arrangement with the local school district, whereby the organization provides the classrooms and the district provides teachers. He said that Hogar de Cristo, unlike other local schools, has its own computer lab, thanks to supporters who have donated computers and other technology.
Napier said that some of the children had been in a “very rough place” prior to their arrival.
“Some of them have been trafficked,” he explained. “When they show up, some of them are almost catatonic.”
But through the combined efforts of staff, volunteers, and the other children residing there, he said, they “don’t stay in their shell very long.”
His limited Spanish hasn’t prevented him from making connections: “I found over the last 10 years that that’s not a problem. … Through sign language, and gestures, and body language, we find ways to communicate.”
Learn more at emilianiproject.org.
