Priest Serves as ‘Angel’ to Thailand’s Poor

For three decades, Father Joe Maier, a 66-year-old Roman Catholic priest from Seattle, has served as a straight-talking guardian angel, watching over young beggars and orphans in the largest slum in Bangkok, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The Grateful Dead-loving Mr. Maier founded the Human Development Foundation, a sprawling charity that has five orphanages and homeless shelters as well as Thailand’s largest free hospice for mothers and children with HIV and AIDS.

“You try to give a kid a chance to be human for a while,” the priest told the Times. “You shoot them like an arrow into the wind and you hope for the best. You want to show them that for one bright, shining moment of their lives there was a Camelot called childhood.”