With momentum growing and help coming from all corners of the community, the campaign to prevent the closing of Incarnation-St. James School, Ewing, has been extended an additional month, giving the dedicated group of parents and parishioners fighting to save the school a greater chance of realizing their goal.

Having taken advantage of numerous resources and calling upon both the Catholic and secular communities for support, the “S.O.S. (Save Our School)” committee – a group of more than 20 members of the parish and school community – have received the permission of Trinitarian Father Daniel Houde, pastor of Incarnation-St. James Parish, to continue their efforts. The group had originally been given until March 31 to raise $300,000 and to develop a plan to reverse the school’s declining enrollment trend, with a goal of getting the number of students up to 160.

As of April 1, the campaign had raised $121,000. Two highly successful events – a pasta dinner and silent auction that drew 300 people March 26 and a 5K run on the campus of Notre Dame High School, Lawrenceville, March 27 – brought in more than $13,000 even with the limited amount of time the group had to plan the fundraisers.

In addition to the Pennington Fire Department offering its facilities for the dinner, local restaurants donated the food and a wide array of businesses and organizations offered items for the silent auction. The list of items auctioned – more than 70 in total – included sporting event tickets, restaurant gift certificates and services ranging from an oil change to pet grooming.

After the success of their early fundraising efforts, the group is confident that they will be able to raise the $300,000 needed to open the school in September, said Deacon Frank Golazeski, one of the organizers of the S.O.S. campaign. Following a meeting with school families March 29, Deacon Golazeski said the committee will now shift its focus to developing a solid business model for the school’s future.

“The goal has always been demonstrating that the school is viable long term by doing things like we’ve never done before,” he said.

“We can meet a check point, but I think the more important question is, is the school viable? It doesn’t matter if we raise $300,000 this year if we can’t do it again, or can’t continue to demonstrate how we can bring students in and get the enrollment curve up.”

The group hopes to get outside input on their business plan before presenting it to Father Houde, who will then make the final decision on whether to allow the school to remain open.

Being Resourceful
Among the things the school has added to its fundraising efforts is the use of new technology, including social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter, to raise awareness of their efforts. They have also posted a YouTube video that includes photos from the school set to a song performed by ISJ students. Catholic musician Tom Booth, composer of the song used in the video, not only allowed the school to use his music but also offered his prayers for their effort.

Committee member Sue Totaro, herself a graduate of the school and former teacher there, said that the creative methods employed by the campaign to raise money are indicative of the new approach they must adopt to keep the school alive.

“We truly believe that in order for this to be successful, and in order for us to stay open and be viable, there has to be a systemic change in how we fund and support Catholic schools,” said Totaro, whose youngest child is currently a fourth grader at ISJ and whose two older children are alumni of the school.

“We can’t go back to the same old pattern and model,” she said. “If we don’t use technology, if we don’t rely on our alumni, if we don’t use the community, we won’t be able to continue to develop as a Catholic school.”

The campaign has held call-a-thons, particularly focusing on alumni, to solicit donations and has partnered with local businesses to gain publicity. The mayor of Ewing has also given the school a free table each week at the Trenton Farmer’s Market to promote their efforts, Deacon Golazeski said, and has offered his support to the campaign.

Banding Together
The Catholic community has also been extremely supportive, he added. St. Ann School, Lawrenceville, held a dress down day that raised $551 for Incarnation-St. James, and Msgr. Ralph Stansley, pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, West Trenton, invited members of the S.O.S. committee to speak after weekend Masses in his parish to encourage families to consider sending their children to ISJ. Father Michael Manning, pastor of Holy Cross Parish, Rumson, has also used his blog to promote the campaign.

“It made a real nice connection across the Body of Christ, from a St. Paul perspective of saying we’re all different parts, we each have our gifts, but we’re all important to each other,” Deacon Golazeski said. “And we are very grateful for that.”

The planning of the S.O.S. campaign has come together rapidly and the group has made great strides in a short amount of time. But even if they are ultimately unsuccessful in keeping the school open, Totaro said, they will have given other schools an example of what a community can do to support Catholic education.