Los Amigos is a faith-based organization dedicated to supporting programs that improve and transform the lives of the poor of Chimbote, Peru.

Read About Chimbote Donate Now

How To Help

The O’Meara Family’s Donation to the Endowment

The first time Jim O’Meara visited Chimbote in 1984, he shadowed Fr. Jack as he went through his daily priestly duties. “We had five funerals in ten days,” says Jim. “One was a person in her forties and all the rest were young people down to infants.”

After the visit, Jim and his wife Lu started making monthly donations to Fr. Jack. It was just what they could spare, but they did it regularly and knew that, with the Peruvian exchange rate, their funds could go a long way in Chimbote.

Over the next decade, Jim visited Chimbote several times. “The first few times I’d visit, I’d come back home afterward and Lu would have a nice dinner on the table. Our two young daughters would be sitting there in their clean dresses and there would be a turkey dinner on the table. I’d sit down and say grace and just dissolve into tears. We have so much…they have so little. I was shocked and sickened by the poverty,” he recalls. “But I was also motivated by it.”

Over time, as the O’Meara’s businesses grew, they increased their monthly donations to Fr. Jack. In the 1990s, when Los Amigos formed and 501c3 status was obtained, they were able to claim tax deductions for their donations. Around the same time, the O’Mearas began focusing on two particular interests among Los Amigos projects: the hospice and the Los Amigos foundation. In a way, both interests grew from similar roots.

The interest in funding a hospice in Chimbote began to grow when Jim’s own father passed away while under hospice care. The interest in the Los Amigos foundation grew from watching Jim’s dear friend, Fr. Jack, getting older. “Fr. Jack and I are the same age, and I know when we get older, we slow down,” Jim says. “Even though Jack may have in his will, ‘In the event that I die…’ I think he is going to die someday. I very much would like to see what he started--and poured his heart and soul and blood and sweat and tears into--be continued. So I was an easy convert to the idea of an endowment.”

In the 2000s, the O’Mearas started making significant yearly pledges to each of the two projects. Jim says the O’Mears long history of giving is motivated by a simple philosophy that has been part of his life as long as he can remember.

 “I’m a businessman, and I think the object of business is to create wealth, and from that flows jobs and philanthropy. You start the business, you hire people to grow it, and you reward them along the way. Then philanthropy is the logical next step,” he says matter-of-factly. “God expects that to whom much has been given, much is expected.”

Photo: The hospice built by Los Amigos