Jan 22, 2004

Bridging the gap
Second annual Holy Spirit fundraising campaign a success

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

As the final numbers roll in for their second annual “Bridge the Gap” campaign, members of Holy Spirit school and parish can take pride in becoming quite the experts at impressive fundraising as they celebrate collecting $111,263 for the school in just over six weeks.

The top 35 donor families were treated to gold embroidered sweatshirts at a thank you breakfast reception on Jan. 15 in the school library. “This is just a small token of our appreciation,” explained Elaine Luksus, Director of Development and Community Relations. “They have contributed very generously to us.”

According to Luksus, the emphasis this year was placed more on participation, with 72 percent of parents and 95 percent of faculty overall participating in the campaign. “We stressed participation over dollar amount so that every little bit according to their means would be fine with us,” she said.

Using e-mail campaigns and cleaver yet subtle techniques such as handing out “Bridge the Gap” engraved pencils and helium balloons with donor cards attached, parents, alumni, parishioners, clergy and staff joined forces to give what they could in an effort to help the school in its growing process.

“We spaced it over several weeks and tried to do something each week to keep the momentum going,” Development Chair Pam Hudson said. “A lot of folks were also able to take advantage of company match programs. We have a lot of really generous families and this year, we more than doubled the participation rate from last year and we’re really close to our financial goal too, even in these bad times.”

Barbara Kelly-Pederson also chaired the campaign. “Raising that kind of money in such a short period of time is really good,” she said. “It’s all about involving people in our school and making sure that our school succeeds.”

All of the money raised will go into Holy Spirit’s operational budget. With 85 percent of the budget fixed on teacher and staff salaries, the balance will be used to fund technology, curricular, library and athletic programs, as well as provide tuition endowment and offset teacher in-service funding.

With one child in second grade and twins starting school in the fall, Becky Menne feels strongly about supporting local education, as the benefits will trickle through the community for years to come. “We’ve always tried to support education in any way we can and this is a great opportunity to do it,” she said.

Boots DelBiaggil agreed. “This is a start-up school and we’re just getting the infrastructure together here,” he said. This is a great way to bridging the gap as we gain kids into the school.”

“This group has raised over $100,000 just since September and it was strictly a pledge and ask campaign for monetary donations,” said Holy Spirit Principal Eileen Beck. “When we set the target with the economy the way it was, we just didn’t know. We really depended on the generosity of our families to help us do that. I’m amazed that we are where we are today.”