Donations aid four schools

Josephine Rozzelle, Senior Reporter

Red and blue posters and balloons outside of the Flood Mansion and Stuart Hall Hall School entrances in recent weeks announced the commencement of the Convent and Stuart Hall Annual Fund, which raised almost $2.4 million last year.

The Annual Fund encourages the Sacred Heart community to donate to the improvement and maintenance of all four schools. Donations supplement costs not covered by tuition, according to Karen Lenardi, annual and planned gifts officer.

“The money goes to the school’s operating budget,” Lenardi said. “Faculty development, furniture, classrooms, the bus going back and forth — all of those things are part of the school’s operating budget.”

Donations support projects across the four schools, including the renovations of three Stuart Hall High School science labs last summer. Although the improvements affect students, awareness of the fund is small, according to junior Kelly Rosanelli.

“Students don’t know if the Annual Fund is good or bad because we don’t know what the money is actually being put to,” Rosanelli said.

One hundred percent of faculty, staff and administration already participated in the Annual Fund, demonstrating its commitment, according to Tracy Sena, Convent High School Annual Fund captain.

“When the school approaches other donors, especially larger corporations [to donate], it is a real feather in the school’s cap if it can say that our employees believe in our mission so much that 100 percent of them donated,” Sena said.

As of the week of Oct. 17, $657,398 was donated, reaching almost a third of the fund’s goal of $2.125 million, according to the school website.

“Schools of the Sacred Heart is an organization that does good work,” Sena said. “It is something that is worthy of all of us to support, whether we are a teacher or a parent.”

Parents are asked to pledge by Jan. 20, but alumnae and other individuals have until the end of the school year to contribute, according to Lenardi.

“We want the students to be able to enjoy it,” Lenardi said, “So when the heads of school start thinking ‘I would love to put this into play, I would love to be able to let students go here, or see this,’ they can.”