This is a short story that is found on
www.holyangelsnc.org . I have had the pleasure of meeting Maria. In 07 I was there for her birthday. She is a beautiful soul.
Please visit their site and as always shop at hairbling and 10percent of the sale will go straight to holy angels. I cut a check each at the end of each month to send. Your invoice that arrives with your purchase will reflect this.
President/CEO Regina Moody (left) and first resident, Maria Morrow (right)Doctors did not expect the baby girl to live long beyond her December 20, 1955, birth. She was born medically fragile, with multiple disabilities. If she lived, the doctors said, the baby would have serious medical problems, severe mental retardation and physical disabilities.
Her young mother sought help from the Sisters of Mercy who operated a day care center under the direction of Sister Marie Patrice Manley. In January 1956, the young mother, a worker in one of the textile mills in Belmont, began to bring her fragile child to Sr. Patrice. When the baby became seriously ill, the mother asked the sisters to care for her child.
Each sister took turns caring for the infant who was named, Maria. She began to thrive with their attention and lots of medical care. She grew and developed far better than expected. Soon, other parents of children with multiple disabilities and mental retardation asked the Sisters of Mercy for help. The sisters set up a home, which eventually became Holy Angels. Mother Mary Benignus Hoban, who co-founded Holy Angels, called the children who came to live there, “God’s innocents.” Mother Benignus served as president of Holy Angels until 1997. She died on December 30, 2000. She was 94.
The late Kays Gary, a North Carolina newspaper columnist, wrote about Maria, the Sisters of Mercy and the other children. His friend, syndicated columnist, Jim Bishop, wrote stories, too. Their journalism brought support – and more children – to the Sisters of Mercy.
Then on October 2, 1961 – the Feast of the Guardian Angels – a new wing was formally dedicated to the care, education and development of children with mental retardation and other disabilities. What until then had been called “the Nursery” became Holy Angels. Later, in 1972, the newly built Main Center opened.
Today
Since then, Holy Angels has grown and developed several innovative programs to help meet the changing needs of people with developmental disabilities. The private, nonprofit 501(C)(3) corporation employs about 250 people, and provides programs and services to 70 children and adults. Residents range in age from 6-months-old to 62-years-old.
As for Maria, doctors discovered she does not have mental retardation. She works as a receptionist at the Holy Angels Specialized Community Residential Center (SCR) and she also helps out at Cherubs Candy Bouquets, the vocational program operated by Holy Angels in downtown Belmont.
Holy Angels has grown over the years to include four Intermediate Care Facilities for the Mentally Retarded (ICF/MR) Group Homes on the main campus, and two supported living homes. The main center houses an on-site day care called Little Angels Child Development Center. The campus also is home to Marywood, a building that houses the boardroom and the Holy Angels Foundation and the ICF/MR administrative offices.
Other facilities include two supported living homes in Belmont; PUSH Place, an on-site outside recreation area; and Camp Hope, a handicapped accessible camp with nature trails in Belmont on the South Fork River.
Holy Angels has received permission from the N.C. Division of Facilities Services to build a fifth intermediate care facility for the mentally retarded (ICF/MR) group home on the main campus. The ground breaking ceremony for the new fifteen-bed facility took place on Dec. 18, 2003.
