"THESE are the best boys God ever made." Those are the words of a man who spent his life working with mentally handicapped children. A far cry from the days when anyone who suffered from this kind of disablement was hidden away from society, something to be ashamed of.
Of course, it is now realised that most mentally-handicapped children can be trained to do something and make their contribution to society.
But, although the need is great, the labourers are few and money for this work is even more scarce. The priests of the Order of the Sons of Divine Providence are pioneers in the field of training these children. At present they run a home for boys from four years to 14 years at Teddington, Middlesex.
Now they want to extend their work and build a centre for 150 teenage boys. They have the land and the money for the building is coming in. But nobody knows how they are to buy the equipment on which the boys will be trained to do simple assembly jobs and support themselves.
This is where the CATHOLIC HERALD readers can help. Give these boys the means to a fuller life. Buy them the equipment they need. It is bad enough to be mentally handicapped: it is worse to be totally reliant on others. With training many physically handicapped children can come close to leading a full and happy life.