Wings of Angels
From the minute they came through the door, it was obvious that Noemi Noriega Torres and Sister Louise Marie Benecke, coordinators of the Douglas, Ariz., based Wings of Angels Foundation, were welcome guests in Gloria and Karen’s small home in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico.
Gloria had a stroke two years ago and now uses a manual wheelchair to get around. Her daughter Karen, 33, injured in an automobile accident as a toddler, is bedridden due to paralysis on her left side. “She does need intensive therapy,” Sister Louise Marie said, referring to Karen. “This is the reason Wings of Angels obtained an electric hospital bed and a trapeze arrangement for her bed - to assist with her physical therapy.”
Founded in 1998, Wings of Angels Foundation is a rescue mission concerned for the tens of thousands of poor located in Northern Sonora, immediately across from the U.S. border town of Douglas. 
Ms. Torres has served as clinic coordinator for the last 10 years and Sister Louise Marie, a nurse practitioner, has been volunteering as the patient care coordinator for two years, making three or four trips to Agua Prieta per week.
Together Sister Louise Marie and Ms. Torres coordinate the team of volunteers who provide a major clinic once a month. “Our Wings of Angels Crisis Intervention Clinic holds a major all-day clinic once a month, primarily for special needs children, special needs adults and their caregiver families,” Sister Louise Marie said. “Mondays are home visits to patients who need follow up wound care and exercise rehabilitation. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, our clinic is open to provide basic support needs to patients and their families who come for medical supplies, nutritional supplements, diapers, and assistance with obtaining their basic medications.”
Step by step, we travel far. Paso por paso, nosotros viajamos lejos.
Information excerpted from an article by Ann Widmann in the Sierra Vista Herald, Sierra Vista, Ariz.
How can you be an “angel” in someone’s life today? How can you assist those “angels” in your community who make life easier for those in need?
Feature Box Photo: Courtesy of Wings of Angels Foundation
Upper Right Photo: Courtesy of the Sierra Vista Herald, Serra Vista, AZ.
Photo by Ann Widmann
Lower Left Photo: Courtesy of Wings of Angels Foundation