Save St. Mary's Catholic School
Donation protected
Help Save Rural Faith Education - St. Mary's School
St. Mary’s School is a small rural Catholic elementary school located in Montrose, Missouri, with 384 people about 80 miles southeast of Kansas City in Henry County. Opened in 1915, the school is now struggling to stay open. Economic hard times have hit this private school hard.
The school makes a huge impact in children’s lives. I graduated from St. Mary’s and benefited from small class sizes and personal attention from caring teachers. Future generations need to experience everything that a private faith based education provides including lifetime Christian values, like I did.
The school uses creative approaches to help itself. Older kids tutor younger kids and lead physical exercise in the school yard. The school only has four teachers for prekindergarten through eighth grade. Father Tom Hermes, the parish priest, serves as the principal, teacher and assists with food service to name just a few things. The school has no sports and no band.
The parish holds fund raising events like a smoked meat sale and its annual Labor Day Picnic meal and country store serving about 1,500 meals in one day to support the school. However, with the declining number of families in the rural farming community, it is hard to keep the school operational.
There was an article in The Kansas City Star newspaper that talked about the school’s struggle to stay open with a small enrollment and decreasing resources from the parish. Check out the story, video and photo gallery. http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article59040003.html
The school could really use your help. Please give whatever you feel comfortable giving. Tell your friends and family about this opportunity to help save a small rural school. Help spread the word about the fund.
All donations are tax deductible and go directly to St. Mary’s School fund. The school would like to add new textbooks with an updated improved curriculum, technology enhancements to the learning environment and properly maintain the one hundred year old building. More specific needs are upgrading the lighting for efficiency and brightness, fixing the drinking fountain and teacher assistance funds for supplies.
St. Mary’s School is a small rural Catholic elementary school located in Montrose, Missouri, with 384 people about 80 miles southeast of Kansas City in Henry County. Opened in 1915, the school is now struggling to stay open. Economic hard times have hit this private school hard.
The school makes a huge impact in children’s lives. I graduated from St. Mary’s and benefited from small class sizes and personal attention from caring teachers. Future generations need to experience everything that a private faith based education provides including lifetime Christian values, like I did.
The school uses creative approaches to help itself. Older kids tutor younger kids and lead physical exercise in the school yard. The school only has four teachers for prekindergarten through eighth grade. Father Tom Hermes, the parish priest, serves as the principal, teacher and assists with food service to name just a few things. The school has no sports and no band.
The parish holds fund raising events like a smoked meat sale and its annual Labor Day Picnic meal and country store serving about 1,500 meals in one day to support the school. However, with the declining number of families in the rural farming community, it is hard to keep the school operational.
There was an article in The Kansas City Star newspaper that talked about the school’s struggle to stay open with a small enrollment and decreasing resources from the parish. Check out the story, video and photo gallery. http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article59040003.html
The school could really use your help. Please give whatever you feel comfortable giving. Tell your friends and family about this opportunity to help save a small rural school. Help spread the word about the fund.
All donations are tax deductible and go directly to St. Mary’s School fund. The school would like to add new textbooks with an updated improved curriculum, technology enhancements to the learning environment and properly maintain the one hundred year old building. More specific needs are upgrading the lighting for efficiency and brightness, fixing the drinking fountain and teacher assistance funds for supplies.
Organizer and beneficiary
Bill Roos
Organizer
Montrose, MO
Tom Hermes
Beneficiary
