Catholic parents renovate house to raise school funds

Published: 2006-01-10

PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- Besides the usual auctions and candy sales, St. Luke School in Woodburn has added real estate as a fundraiser. Along the way, school parents and members of St. Luke Parish have generated a stronger sense of community. It started last fall when parishioners Monica and Mark Nyman, temporarily flush with cash from the sale of a Willamette Valley farm, bought a $92,000 house as an investment. Experienced homebuyers and renovators, the couple asked other parents to volunteer to help rehabilitate the three-bedroom house, a mile from the church. When they resold the home early in December, their profit of $30,000 was donated to the school. The money likely will go to student financial aid. "It was kind of a fun thing," Monica Nyman told the Catholic Sentinel, newspaper of the Portland Archdiocese. She is on the school's fundraising team and husband Mark serves on the school advisory council.

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