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               Amy Betros
                       Buffalo, New York
                              

   Amy Betros, together with Norm Paolini, founded St.    Luke's Mission of Mercy which operates on the East    Side of Buffalo. This area is arguably the worst    section in Western New York.

   Amy's conversion story begins in 1990 in Medjugorje, Yugoslavia where she    experienced a profound awareness of God's love for her. It was also on this trip    that Amy was introduced to the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, a devotion that would    soon become a major part of her life.

   Amy returned to Buffalo where she was a successful business woman and    owner of Amy's Place, a well known and popular restaurant in the City's    University District. But she knew that her life would never be the same.

   Drawn by the Lord and His Blessed Mother, she went on a pilgrimage to
   Fatima, Portugal where she met Norm Paolini, a cancer research scientist at    Roswell Park Institute. This meeting, ordained by God, would change their lives    and the lives of countless others forever.

   Their friendship grew as did their desire to serve God by caring for His    poor. They started by supplying food to those in need from the back of Amy's    Place. But it was clear to them that God was calling them to do more.

   In 1994, Amy sold her business and Norm took an early retirement and with
   the help of a generous benefactor, they purchased the recently closed
   Catholic Church of St. Luke's and on August 1, 1994 St. Luke's Mission of    Mercy was born.

   Amy Betros works tirelessly at St. Luke's to help all those that the Lord sends
   to her. With the help of eleven full time Missionaries, almost a hundred    associates, many friends, volunteers, and benefactors, St. Luke's Mission of    Mercy strives to show the great love and mercy of God by carrying out the    corporal and spiritual works of mercy. St. Luke's serves two meals a day, six    days a week, to as many as 500 people a day. St. Luke's provides clothing
   and shelter to homeless men, single women and their children, teenage boys    who have nowhere else to turn, and families in need. St. Luke's provides other    services to the poor in the neighborhood, including transportation to/from    appointments and food giveaways.

   St. Luke's now operates Our Lady of Hope home school for grades Pre-k-8. In    its second year, the school has three full time teachers and many volunteers    and aids. Enrollment was 16 children the first year and is up to 22 children this    year.

   St. Luke's also has a very active Religious Education program with
   Generations of Faith, a family based program, Adult RCIA with several people    coming into the faith each year, a bible study, etc.

   In all that St. Luke's does and in all that Amy does, they strive to show that
   God is good, loving and merciful! By exhibiting, as best as they can, the    kindness of God, people start to believe that they are special and that God    does love them. And when people start to truly know and feel God's love for    them, lives can be transformed!