Thank You Fall Fest!

St. Ann Fall Fest 2019 has come to a close. Fall Fest is like no other parish fun-raising event anywhere. In just its second year under the leadership of Jamie Coggins, Stephanie Nichols, and Kathy Schiavone, this event has grown from a 3-day, 1 weekend event to an 8-day, 3 weekend celebration.

I want to thank Jamie, Stephanie, and Kathy for their work on making Fall Fest an incredible event for our parish. I attended every event; opening ceremony, Italian dinner, outdoor festival, vendor fair, food truck fair, concerts, and basketball, golf and bowling tournaments. I had a great time at all the events.

By the way, I hadn't bowled in about twenty years, and it definitely showed. But, I was with a great team consisting of Seth Nichols, Ethan Nichols and Corbin Kirkland. They more than made up for my lack of bowling anything. Ethan even took time to give me some pointers, which led to a few spares and strikes. Thanks Ethan. Time for some bowling lessons and practice before next year's tournament.

Putting on the Fall Fest is no easy chore. These ladies put their heart and soul into making Fall Fest a success for the parish. Fall Fest helps the school keep tuition as low as possible. Their work helps families struggling to pay tuition, which is probably about 90% of our families. Paying Catholic School tuition is no easy feat and takes sacrifice; family sacrifice. Boy, do I know.

Fall Fest is the main fundraiser for the parish but it is much more than that. It is an opportunity for St. Ann to show the community what a great parish we are. It gives us the chance to put our best foot forward. It is a golden moment for us to evangelize to those who may be looking for a church home. The Fall Fest is the occasion we need for all of us to say "We are St. Ann! Come join us!"

I bet most of you never thought about Fall Fest this way. If you were to look at Fall Fest as the parishes' great opportunity to help others, would you be more likely to volunteer, donate, and participate?

I'm looking forward to St. Ann Fall Fest 2020. I look forward to working with these three incredible women. I look forward to car raffle tickets, golf, basketball, bowling, eating Italian food, listening to great music, volunteering, donating, and the many other things that will be asked of all of us by the Fall Fest committee.

Most of all, I look forward to showing everyone what a great parish we have at St. Ann. And, I pray that through our actions others find a home at St. Ann. "Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father." - Matthew 5:16

Jamie, Stephanie, and Kathy, you are ANGELS. Thank you for helping to make St. Ann a great place to be. Your work is a ministry and you are God's hands and feet.

God bless you,
Didier Aur, Principal
St. Ann Catholic School

Click here to read previous blog.

2019-20 Annual Fund Drive

The 2019-20 Annual Fund Drive has begun!

In my July 9th blog entitled St. Ann Alumni Matching Challenge (https://didieraur.blogspot.com/2019/07/st-ann-alumni-matching-challenge.html), I wrote about our annual fund drive goal for this year being $130,000. I called this our BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal), and this is definitely one BHAG.

Just a reminder, a BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as unifying focal point for effort. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal.

I don't know this for a fact, but I bet St. Ann has never set an annual fund goal anywhere near this amount. This amount even eclipses last year's total giving of just over $120,000. $67,000 of that total was through in-kind giving, which doesn't count towards the annual drive. Annual giving funds are unrestricted funds that help pay the school's annual operating cost. The more financial gifts we receive, the less we charge for tuition.

In my last blog, The Fall Fest and the School (https://didieraur.blogspot.com/2019/10/fall-fest-and-school.html), I explained the revenue from the Fall Fest is the biggest fundraising event for the school. This year, we need the annual fund drive to surpass the Fall Fest revenue by 2 1/2 times.

If we accomplish this BHAG of raising $130,000 in our annual fund drive, we will be able to meet another BHAG of going three years in a row without a tuition increase.

What is so important about the annual fund drive? Giving to the annual fund drive goes to assist every student in our school by keeping tuition as low as possible. If we want to stay true to our Catholic mission of providing education to all, we need to be affordable to all and not just the families who can financially afford a Catholic education.

My pledge is we will continue to do our best to make St. Ann the best school possible while remaining true to our school's mission statement: Our mission is to provide a Catholic education through faith, service and love.

We started mailing out the fund drive brochures and envelopes this past week. We ask that you take some time to read the brochure. We also hope and pray you will consider St. Ann Catholic School as part of your annual giving plan. Help St. Ann reach our BHAG.

$130,000 is one BHAG. For St. Ann and our students, please help us achieve this goal.

God bless you,
Didier Aur, Principal
St. Ann Catholic School

Click here to read previous blog.