The exact number of people fed is difficult to know since many families, due partially to embarrassment, will send one of their children to the refectory with a bucket which is used to feed the family back home. The meal is served around 1:00 PM each day, Monday thru Friday and usually consists of beans, rice and cornmeal which is purchased in the local market.

Most of the country's poor could not afford to buy food locally in the best of times. Now with the price of food, and everything else, increasing dramatically, the number of families forced to seek assistance is rising and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

St. Monica spends $1,000 per month to support the refectory which works out to less than 25 cents per meal. A bargain price to keep a child alive and well.

To the right are before and after photos of a girl named Lavalie who was literally starving to death until her family started receiving food assistance at Sacre Coeur.