MADISON — For the past 10 years, members of Pro Labore Dei (PLD) — wearing bright orange aprons — have fed the hungry in downtown Madison every Friday since September 26, 2003. They began feeding people each Saturday a few months later.
It took a Sister from Nigeria to open the eyes of this group of Madison volunteers to the plight of the hungry and homeless.
Coming to Madison
Known as the “Mother Teresa of Nigeria,” Sr. Stella-Maris Okonkwo says God told her to come to Madison. “He said to me, ‘I am preparing the people. When it is ready, I will let you know.’”
She travelled to Madison in September of 2003. “I didn’t even have a visa,” said Sister Stella-Maris in an interview on her first visit. “In a most miraculous manner, I went to the embassy and explained my mission. Immediately I got my visa,” she said.
Sister Stella-Maris came to Madison in September of this year to observe the 10th anniversary of the local PLD branch’s work. Jim Flad, the local PLD coordinator, said the group has served over 76,300 meals in the past 10 years. “We haven’t missed a meal on Friday,” he said.
Meals are being served in Peace Park on State St. each Friday from 1 to 2 p.m. and Saturday from 9 to 9:30 a.m. PLD is looking for an indoor site downtown to serve meals during the winter months.
Pro Labore Dei
Sister Stella-Maris founded Pro Labore Dei in 1990 as a response to God’s call to “go out into the streets and slum areas where people are suffering and look after the poor.”
In Nigeria her organization feeds the hungry, distributes clothing, provides health services, visits prisoners, cares for orphans, and provides education and religious services. PLD also helps during natural disasters, including the devastating floods in 2012.
PLD has expanded to 23 countries with 56 branches, where members carry on the PLD mission.
Two new off-shoots of PLD have also been founded recently and approved by the Catholic Church. One is the Missionaries of Love and Mercy, a group of women and men who devote their life to missionary work. “They go where there is war, famine, floods, earthquakes, disaster, or extreme poverty,” said Sister Stella-Maris.
This group goes to any country in the world, including such places as the Republic of Togo, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and Ghana.
The other off-shoot is the Perfecta Caritas Sisters, a secular institute which received Church recognition this year. These women takes vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Their mission is similar to other PLD members: care of poor, indigent, and destitute people, bringing them God’s love and kindness.
Feeding the hungry in Madison
When she came to Madison in 2003, Sister Stella-Maris told the local group to “feed the poor.” She insisted that there are hungry people in Madison.
She told them, “Let’s go to the heart of the city.” The volunteers prepared food and went with Sister Stella-Maris to the downtown State St. area.
Flad recalls, “With some uncertainty in our steps, two of us walked out onto the street with 12 paper lunch bags in our hands. But our loving God showed us the way as we encountered one homeless person after another, thankful for the food and some even blessing us for our gift to them.
“The 12th person received this food and wanted to give us something in return. Imagine our surprise as he sang ‘Amazing Grace’ to us there on the street!
“Of course, none of this would have been possible if our Lord, Jesus, had not sent us helpers to do his work — just as Sister Stella-Maris predicted,” said Flad.
Many volunteers have helped PLD members by preparing and/or distributing food to the homeless every Friday and Saturday. Homeless men have also helped carry and distribute food.
“It’s a blessing for us to work with the homeless,” said Mercedes Pozo, a PLD member. “We are part of a family. It is beautiful.”
Besides food, the PLD members have helped the homeless people in other ways. “We help them fill out job applications and write letters,” said Flad. They assisted a pregnant woman with food, clothing, and household items.
Anyone interested in helping the Pro Labore Dei group or to offer suggestions for an indoor site may call Jim Flad at 608-833-5472 or 608-215-4347 (cell).