This note is to alert you to the upcoming Academy Prayer Breakfast (APB) at Saint Charles Borromeo.  Though maybe not an all-points-bulletin, I will present here an outline of our annual end-of-year fundraiser to be held on the morning of Friday, December 7.

Mass will begin at 7:30.  You can enter through the new plaza gathering space, designed to illustrate our Christian outreach to the community and proclamation of Jesus’ message that all are welcome.  After Mass you can check-in at the adjoining Commons area that leads to the Chargers Gymnasium where breakfast will be served and you will learn more about what we have accomplished in two years—and what we still hope to achieve.

Our 2018 breakfast theme is “Under Construction.”  You have helped us get our physical structure in shape: energy efficient windows to replace the 1950’s originals, new roofs on our buildings to stop leakage, safety upgrades to provide security, replacement of a dangerous and dilapidated parish office (former convent), and creation of a gathering space to welcome one another in Christ.  This construction is symbolic of God shaping, forming, and renewing each of us, much as an architect designs a vision and a builder creates a dream.  Here, Jesus is the cornerstone and we are living stones that lay a foundation for our children and future generations.

At breakfast, our principal, Ann Lachowitzer, will enlighten us about the Catholic liberal arts education at Borromeo Academy that is this foundation, and how this proven model is impacting children and their families.  Two years ago, our enrollment was 117 (K-8); today it is 159, plus thirty-two more in our pre-school.  You will meet our student scholars and, if interested, tour their classrooms.  The breakfast will conclude by 9:30.

I want to thank our first donors of the event: contributors to the Welsh Family Thanksgiving morning turkey dunk gathering, held this year at the Blue Hills Country Club.  If you’re in the south Kansas City neighborhood, stop in to share in the first toasts of the holiday season and deep fry your centerpiece gobbler before the family feast.  If you are able to follow their lead by attending the prayer breakfast next month or by making a contribution on-line or mail, your gift will be put to good use.  It is my personal hope that we can raise enough funds to sponsor scholars at our Academy whose families cannot afford to meet the cost of education.  Seventeen of our students do not yet have someone, group, or family to sponsor them: tuition is $5,300.  If we can collect funds to sponsor most, or even some, of these scholars, it will help us close the gap on our funding goals.  As enrollment increases, we will move toward a self-sustaining status.  Blessed with great friends and benefactors, I have no doubt that we will get where we need to be.

For more information about, or to register for, our SCBA Prayer Breakfast click here.