Richard Borgman has been an evangelist pastor and missionary with his wife Danelle, for more than 20 years in Africa. Richard and Danelle converted to catholicism after a long journey that they relate in their book "Coup de grâce". They are member of the Emmanuel Community.
In 2006, Richard and Danelle Borgman discovered within a neighborhood of the city of Gainesville (Georgia) called "Little Mexico" a place where poor men were expecting a job every morning. They started to offer them breakfast, a coffee, a tea… Gainesville is a small town specialised in chicken transformation and production, which attracts a numerous and unqualified workforce.
Little Mexico is a highly hispanic neighborhood, where the average family income is $300 a week, a trailer rent being $150 a week. The area is also inhabited by poor american people.
In 2007, Richard and Danelle started the John Paul II Training Center, to serve and help the population of Little Mexico, and to encourage catholic people to live their baptism faith. The spirituality of the center is inspired by divine mercy welcome and reflection, as John Paul II said in Denver in 1993 :
« THE MAN OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM WILL BE EVANGELIZED THROUGH MERCY »
Since the beginning of the John Paul II Training Center, Richard and Danelle Borgman have been helped by Fidesco who sent volunteers to live in Little Mexico neighborhood with the people and serve them. The center has become a life community center where one’s need is taken into account at various levels:
Since its birth, the center welcomed 11 Fidesco volunteers. They work in close relationship with the Saint Michael parish. More than 400 people take benefit each week from the center help. |
History and Context |
