When we launched our home-grown slogan — “The Answer is Yes!” — in 2014, it was our hope that it would serve as an invitation to both donors and families in need to expand the impact of Catholic education to families who never dreamed that the experience was even possible.
By God’s grace, it seems to be working! In nine short years, our tuition assistance awardees went from 1,480 students to an all-time high 3,600 students this past fall. And how necessary this work has been.
Above and beyond the big numbers, here are some vivid examples of how our donors and funding partners have answered the call of both families and entire communities in need.
At St. Rita School in Okolona, we awarded scholarships to 196 students with aggregate funding of over $600,000 — our #1 funded school in the Archdiocese. That’s equivalent to seven out of 10 students in the school. Look at the transformation that we are all providing to the entire Okolona community!
At Notre Dame Academy in Shively, just under 200 students earned tuition assistance awards of more than $300,000.
At St. Joseph School in Bardstown, 138 students were awarded nearly $250,000 in scholarships.
At St. Bernard School in Highview, we helped 181 students with aggregate funding of over $350,000.
At St. James School in the Highlands, there were 96 students who received a whopping $341,000 in scholarships.
And the list goes on and on — to all 39 of our Catholic elementary schools across central Kentucky. Isn’t it inspiring to see how valuable our work is to families and communities who need us the most?
This school year, there are at least 3,600 good reasons to thank God for his many blessings upon our Catholic schools. And each one of them has a name — a student name.
Richard Lechleiter is president of the Catholic Education Foundation of Louisville.
