Recent Parish News...

Early this spring we applied for a grant and received funds for the renovation of the Keller, Marian and Music Room floors. In the application we stated that the Keller and Marian rooms are the two rooms used the most by the school and parishioners and these rooms would impact everyone’s life at St. Jude. Knights of Columbus volunteered their time to paint those rooms and our flooring contractor, Ray Chilcote, offered to donate time and labor to include the kitchen floor.

Our summertime custodial crew worked hard to freshen up our classrooms with a new coat of paint. How blessed we are that a new family to St. Jude school works at Sherwin Williams and helped with the cost of the paint. 
With funds raised from a successful auction (raised almost $17,000) and Race4Education (raised over $20,000) we were able to redo our Pre-K and 4th grade classrooms. Our contractor Steve Staszewski and HGR Group Inc. has also donated a couple other projects that were on our list. And decorator Geryl Miller, from Miller and Gray Design, generously donated her time and talent to come and help coordinate everything from paint colors to countertop design.

A parishioner donated funds to have the basketball court repaved and painted so our school children can play basketball, four square and hopscotch. 

During Covid, the Federal government released funds (EANS I) to schools to help lessen the impact on learning as a result of the pandemic. A second round was given to schools in the spring (EANS II). The teachers and I brainstormed ways we could use new Federal funding that was released this summer.  We have purchased $2,000 worth of new library books. We have ordered 90 new chrome books and traveling carts for grades 4-8. We also purchased 25 new iPads for grades K-2, new computers for the computer lab, new laptops for the teachers and desks, tables and chairs for small group instruction. 

We are still paying down the existing debt and did so again this year by a very large amount, thanks to one very large donor who has sent an annual check since we began the project 9 years ago, and some of the members who continue to give what they can, when they can, to the “debt reduction.” The renovation work this summer helps us to continue to educate the hearts and minds of our students. I am very grateful for these gifts and the love in and outside our community.

Join us on Sunday, August 14th after the 10:00 Mass for our Back to School event. You can walk through the school building and see our finished projects as well as meet our dedicated teachers and staff. ~Fr. John