By Gretchen Keiser, Staff Writer

ATLANTA—Parents of students at Our Lady of Lourdes School, with the help of parishioners and other supporters, are making an all-out effort to raise the funds in the next three months to keep the historic school open this coming year.

Facing rapid deadlines to raise money and obtain commitments from parents so that at least 100 children are enrolled in the school this fall, they have a huge task, acknowledged Father John Adamski, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church.

However, the parents working toward the goal are hopeful that the school, founded by St. Katharine Drexel in 1912, will continue.

After meeting with those striving to keep the school open, Father Adamski provided them with a proposed budget and deadlines to be met in order for the school to continue, but as a self-funded school. The archdiocese announced April 3 that it will no longer provide additional funding for Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony’s schools, both 90 years old and located in downtown Atlanta neighborhoods. If either school is to continue, it must do so as a self-funded school. At the same time, the archdiocese has regionalized Sts. Peter and Paul School, Decatur, as St. Peter Claver Regional School and is encouraging families to consider that educational option.

The deadlines parents at Our Lady of Lourdes School are working to meet include:

—by May 15, raising $300,000; obtaining a commitment from a certified principal to lead the school in the coming year; and obtaining student application fees from 50 students;

—by June 15, raising $500,000 more; obtaining commitments from 15 certified teachers to teach at Our Lady of Lourdes School during the coming year; and obtaining student application fees from 50 more students;

—by July 1, having a development committee in place;

—by July 15, raising an additional $230,000.

The need to raise a total of $1,030,000 is based on the assumption that only 100 students enroll at the school. If more than 100 students enroll, tuition income will rise and the amount of money to be raised from sources other than tuition will decrease accordingly.

The budget assumes a tuition rate of $4,000 a child, plus registration and book fees.

Our Lady of Lourdes is also adding a grade in order to serve pre-kindergarten through seventh-grade students, Father Adamski said. This will allow 15 current sixth-graders, who would otherwise have graduated, to continue their education at Our Lady of Lourdes School if fund raising succeeds.

Father Adamski said the parish has “no cushion” to absorb the cost of keeping the school open.

“If the school is going to be open next year, this is the way to do it,” he said, adding that funds will have to be “in the bank. This is not pledged money.”

“I think it is enormously difficult,” he added.

But the perspective of parents is one of faith in the midst of adversity.

“Fortunately, we’re having to really realize what we are truly capable of,” said Jerralyn Winston, who has three children at the school. “We are capable, completely capable.”

Winston said that she is working with school parents to obtain 100 percent involvement on their part in fund raising and also asking the community for support. Each family is being asked to raise $3,000, she said. Alumni are also being targeted for contributions, as are other community members.

“We have to do the most effective fund raising as quickly as possible,” she said. “We have to do things that are at our immediate disposal.”

A resident of southwest Atlanta, she said she has been very pleased with the education her children receive at Our Lady of Lourdes. The location of the regional school in Decatur is not near her home, she said, and would not enable her to be active as a parent and as a volunteer.

“For me and for so many others, it is just not possible to position my kids out there, when I’m 40 minutes away,” she said. “To run over, come in early, help with lunch, there is so much you should be able to do for your (kids’) school, and I can’t do it if they’re in Decatur.”

A parishioner at St. Anthony’s Church, Winston said she has been torn by the situation involving both that school and Our Lady of Lourdes. She has committed her efforts to Our Lady of Lourdes because, from a practical perspective, the school, which is accredited, offers the strongest opportunity to be self-funded this year.

“We have to build where there is the strongest foundation,” she said. “ . . . My dream is we will grow and build from here.”

Mary Avery, school secretary and the mother of a student at Our Lady of Lourdes, who co-chairs a steering committee, said as of April 24 there are 60 children registered for the school for next year. Enrollment packets are being mailed to other families who have expressed interest in the school, Avery said. There are over 200 children enrolled in Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony’s schools combined currently.

Among those who have made donations to the fund-raising effort include the parish neophytes, those who entered the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, who gave $250, according to Sister Loretta McCarthy, SBS.

Sister McCarthy and Sister Nancy Auster, SBS, members of the order founded by St. Katharine Drexel, contributed $2,000 to the fund-raising effort from a special Jubilee grant given to them by their order to continue the work envisioned by their foundress in a unique way.

Sisters of the Sinsinawa Dominican order have also contributed to the effort through support of advertising in The Georgia Bulletin.

Children in the school have change jars where they are saving their coins, Avery said.

“We’re moving forward. Things happen one step at a time and one dollar at a time,” said Avery. “I am encouraging people not to be overwhelmed by the dollar amount.”

While they are confident of meeting their goals, Avery said if the fund drive falls short, money contributed will be used to provide scholarships to minority students attending St. Peter Claver Regional School or other Catholic schools.

For further information, contact the school at (404) 581-0643.