Casa Ricci Social Services

Casa Ricci Social Services () began in 1951 when Spanish Jesuit Luis Ruiz Suárez opened the Jesuit residence in Macau, China, to war refugees. With their resettlement Ruiz addressed the situation of those suffering from leprosy, and later those with AIDS. CRSS is supported by the independent Ricci Social Service Foundation."
In 1951 the Spanish Jesuit Luis Ruiz Suárez came to Macau and found it flooded with refugees from . He opened the Jesuit residence to these refugees and initiated the Casa Ricci Social Services center. The center provided the refugees with food, shelter, job help, and document processing. For their children the centre set up the “Colegio Mateus Ricci School” and “Escola de Santa Teresa do Menino Jesus School.”
In the 1960s, the refugees had moved on and Ruiz shifted the services of the centre to the elderly, founding “Betania Home” for men and “Santa Maria Home” for women. Ruiz also extended services to the north of the peninsula and Taipa Island to alleviate family poverty and child labor.
In 1971 he enlisted the support of Caritas Macau, with help from Caritas International, to take Ricci House under its umbrella. while he continued extending outreach efforts. He began by obtaining medical care, food, water, and help with housing, then he found a group of religious sisters who would live among them and serve their needs. The anniversary of these new efforts was celebrated in 2017.
He further established leper colonies deep in the mountains of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in the north, bringing dependable drinking water and new housing, and, again, the help of a group of sisters. Ruiz emphasized reintegrating into the society the children of the lepers, securing their education along with other children. He established orphanages where they would not be associated with the stigma of leprosy. Ruiz went on to establish charitable institutions for the elderly, the disabled, the mentally handicapped, and to educate social workers throughout much of China. The center's work found continued funding through the independent Ricci Social Service Foundation, and the revised text of the "articles of association was filed in the Department's 2010/ASS/M2 file group on May 6, 2010". Ruiz died in 2011 and is buried at Sanctuary Cemetery.
In 2015 the Ricci Social Service Foundation was running 50 programs distributed in 13 provinces of China with 64 leprosy centers for a total of 4,000 patients and 5 HIV homes with a total of 300 HIV+ mothers/adult. It was also caring for 1500 students from poor families. His work earned him several nicknames - "Luk Ngai" in Cantonese, "Father of the Poor"<ref namemdt/><ref nameucanews/> and "Angel of Macau."

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