World Villages for Children is a nonprofit providing financial support to the charity programs of the Sisters of Mary.

Thanks to our supporters, the Sisters of Mary provide food, care and education for more than 20,000 children in seven countries. These children are among the most marginalized and vulnerable. Our Villages – also referred to as Boystowns and Girlstowns – provide our children with a fully accredited in-house education program and vocational training. In Guatemala, Korea, and Brazil, the Sisters of Mary also run medical clinics and hospitals where they care for the poor.

To date, World Villages for Children has helped 150,000 children and their families break free from a life of poverty.

Our Programs in Mexico

In 1990, despite Father Al being already afflicted with ALS, he accepted the invitation of His Excellency, Msgr. Jose Maria Hernandez Gonzalez, Bishop of the diocese of Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico to establish charity programs in Mexico, starting with a Girlstown in Chalco in 1991.

In 1998, six years after Father Al’s death, his successor Sister Michaela received an invitation from His Eminence Juan Cardinal Sandoval Iniguez, Archbishop of Guadalajara and Governor Alberto Cardenas Jimenez to start a Boystown in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

Through their generosity, the Sisters started our Boystown program there on November 15, 1998. At this time, our Boystown can accommodate 2,000 young boys for their secondary school program with specialized training in vocational courses such as auto mechanics, accounting, culinary arts and more.

Guadalajara Facility Overview

• 2 seven-story buildings with dormitories and classrooms for boys
• 1 three-story workshop for vocational training
• 1 semi-Olympic size indoor swimming pool
• 1 machine and carpentry workshop
• 1 automechanics workshop
• 6 soccer fields
• 2 miniature concrete-surfaced football rapido (soccer) courts
• 1 sewage treatment plant
• 8 greenhouses for high-tech farming
• 1 fish farm consisting of 5 covered-tanks for the culture of tilapia

Read more about our Mexican Boystown in this testimony from a visitor.