Parish collections help WHAS Crusade for Children raise more than $5.7 million

Terry Meiners, far left, spoke to Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre during the WHAS Crusade for Children telethon June 2. Dawn Lee, the crusade’s president, left, and Dr. Brian Reynolds, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Louisville, far left, looked on. (Photo Special to the Record by John Holthaus).

The Archdiocese of Louisville helped the 71st annual WHAS Crusade for Children collect $5,700,525.71 to help children with special needs across Kentucky and southern Indiana. The telethon aired last weekend, June 1-2.

Parishes around the archdiocese took up a second collection to support the Crusade. Together, the contributions from the Archdiocese of Louisville topped out at $286,674. The archdiocese was the second-highest contributor among organizations again this year. 

During the telethon, archdiocesan officials announced the top parish contributions. Among Jefferson County parishes, the top contributors were: Holy Spirit Church with $90,760, St. Margaret Mary Church with $9,609 and St. Albert the Great Church with $8,066.

Holy Spirit’s contribution was bolstered by a $90,000 donation made by parishioner Terry Hickey, whose parents were involved in the first telethons.

The top parish contributors outside Jefferson County were: Immaculate Conception Church in La Grange, Ky., with $7,486; St. Augustine Church in Lebanon, Ky., with $4,004 and St. James Church in Elizabethtown, Ky., with $4,000.

These totals reported by the archdiocese were expected to change as donations continued to arrive after the telethon ended.

The Crusade uses 100 percent of the donations to fund grants to schools, hospitals and agencies “that make life better for children with special needs,” according to a press release from the Crusade. 

The donations help “provide direct services for children with special needs in all 120 Kentucky counties and more than 50 counties in southern Indiana,” the release said. Since 1954, the WHAS Crusade for Children has raised more than $216 million. The archdiocese has contributed more than $9 million since it started participating in 1955.

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