John P. Minnis is Senior Vice President of Commerical Banking at Bank Midwest and a member of the CEF Board of Directors.
If you are reading this blog, I would assume that you are a very generous person. You would not have made it this far on the site if you were not. I will also assume that you are a current supporter of our wonderful Catholic Education Foundation or you are thinking about it. First of all: thank you. You are the type of person that can change a life. Let me share with you how.
I like numbers. Numbers inform while marketing wows. So let me share some numbers from the 2014-2015 school year. CEF awarded 1,363 scholarships with an average of $910 per scholarship, for a total of over $1.2 million. This helped 1,363 kids with an average annual FAMILY income of $24,000 at 21 schools in the Archdiocese get a solid Catholic-based education. Without these results, most (if not all) of these kids would not have the opportunity to attend and stay in one of our Archdiocesan schools.
Since May is graduation month, I want to share some result with you. Our CEF high school graduation rate is an outstanding 98.7% (compared to 70% at similar neighborhood schools). Our CEF schools can also claim that 93.5% of high school graduates go off to college (compared to 33% from the neighborhood school). Your contribution is making a difference and changing lives.
Your generous gifts have not only changed the life of the kids, but could have a lasting impact on future generations. If you don’t believe me, just read the stories on our website or, better yet, attend our Gaudeamus event this fall to hear from a student in person.
All this information, numbers and graduation rates are great news, but there is more work to be done. Please tell a friend about the great things that CEF is doing and if you have the means to, donate. You can help change a life and maybe alter the lives of future generations.
Thank You & God Bless
