MEXICO CITY (AP) — The University of Notre Dame has presented its 2018 Notre Dame Award to a group of Mexican mothers who have led a tireless, years-long search for missing loved ones.

The volunteer group known as Colectivo Solecito has found clandestine burial pits with the remains of hundreds of crime victims in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.

Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins participated in a Mass Monday at one of those sites.

He presented the award to the group's members for doing everything from fundraising to tromping the countryside looking for burial pits.

Drug and kidnapping gangs in Mexico frequently use such pits to hide the bodies of their victims.

Due to a lack of modern police procedures, few of the bodies located have been identified so far.