Parish ACA Chairpersons Share Their "I Believe" Message

(The following is the presentation given on Sunday
to kick off the Annual Ctholic Appeal at our parish.)

"Good morning, everyone. My name is Tom Kimminau and this is my wife, Lori, and we are serving as chairpersons of this year’s Annual Catholic Appeal campaign for our parish. The theme of this year’s campaign is “I Believe.” These two words alone send a powerful message of what a gift our Catholic faith is to us. It is a message about our faith, our hopes, and loving our neighbor, especially those less fortunate than we are. But with that gift comes responsibility and obligation.

If you would please pick up the ACA brochure in your bench and turn to the back side for a minute.  Just look at all of the organizations that benefit from this campaign. Take special notice of the amount used to support our Elementary Schools and Catholic Charities. Collectively they represent approximately 22 cent of every dollar you contribute.

As a Catholic grade school teacher, I see first hand the benefits of Catholic education. I happen to think that our Catholic grade schools are the single biggest asset of any parish. Show me a Catholic grade school that is alive, active, and thriving, and I will show you a PARISH that is alive, active and thriving. Keep in mind that a portion allocated to elementary school assistance comes back to OUR parish in the form of tuition assistance for our very own grade school families. We also recently received $25,000 to replace the middle school parking lot. Work will be completed over the summer. Thanks to your donations in the past, this money was gifted to our parish.

Also, notice that Catholic Charities receives the second largest allocation of funding. More importantly, Catholic Charities provides services that extend far beyond the boundaries of the city of St. Louis including Franklin county and ten other counties surrounding the city. For example, did you know that in 2018, Catholic Charities touched the lives of over 130,000  people. It served 178,000 meals for the homeless and provided shelter for many of those same people. Catholic Charities is also one of the first to respond when there is a natural disaster. As you saw in the video, Archbishop Carlson’s vision of a rural mobile health clinic became a reality thanks to Catholic Charities.

Needless to say, many of the services and good works would be severely impacted or even eliminated altogether if it weren’t for your generous donations to the ACA campaign.

Over the next three weeks, please take a minute to stop by our table in the gathering space and pick up your pledge card. You can fill it out today or take it with you and bring it back next week and drop it off in the collection basket. Please prayerfully consider making a donation. No donation is too small.

Finally, on behalf of Father Joe, Father Kevin, the deacons,  Jennifer Hill and her staff, as well as our co-chairs, Tim and Barb Reiss, we want to personally thank you for your support of this important campaign. “I believe” that we can make a difference!"

Thank you,

Tom and Lori