de Santa Teresa do Menino Jesus School. When the refugees were able to leave the Portuguese territory, Father Ruiz began work with other groups in Macau. He founded the first housing in Macau specifically established to house the elderly, "Betania Home" for men and "Santa Maria Home" for women. He also extended services to the north of the peninsula and Taipa Island to alleviate family poverty and child labor. Casa Ricci later spawned the Caritas Macau charitable organization during the 1970s. For Caritas, among other services, Ruiz opened five centers throughout Macau which provided services for the mentally disabled. Ruiz had learned early on from his experiences in China to avoid political involvement, but engage in dialogue, and he advocated this approach among his fellow workers. Throughout China; Ricci Social Service Foundation Father Ruiz was invited by a Chinese priest and former prisoner, Father Lino Wong, to Dajin Island of Taishan, Guangdong province, where 200 lepers had been exiled in 1986. The visit began Ruiz's ministry for lepers in the country, along with an order of Catholic religious sisters, the Sisters of Charity of St. Anne. When Christian social workers were again admitted to China, Casa Ricci was one of the first to address the needs of disabled persons and lepers. Ruiz began by obtaining medical care, food, water, and help with housing, while religious sisters joined his efforts. This work extended to Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces of China. The anniversary of these new efforts, under the now established name of Casa Ricci Social Services, was celebrated in 2017. Ruiz emphasized reintegrating into society the children of lepers, securing their education along with other children. He established orphanages where they would not be associated with the stigma of leprosy. It is estimated that Father Ruiz worked with more than 8,000 leprosy patients living in 140 leper colonies located throughout China. His work with lepers proved so time-consuming that he voluntarily handed over control of Caritas Macau to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Macau in 1994, and continued to develop programs for Casa Ricci Social Services. Ruiz went on to establish charitable institutions for the elderly, the disabled, and the mentally handicapped, and to educate social workers throughout much of China. At the same time, Caritas Macau, which was an offshoot of his original work grew by 2014 to become "one of the city’s largest non-government organisations; it operates 34