Why I'm Thankful for CEF

Posted on November 17, 2016 in Impact of Donors

I am thankful for the Catholic Education Foundation (CEF), because right here in our community, in one small corner of this large nation, exists an organization that represents the opposite of our world’s problems. CEF is an example of everything that is good and hopeful in our lives. CEF is proof that with reliance on faith, hope, and love, much can be done to improve our world’s, and even our own, personal problems.

The mission of CEF is to break the cycle of poverty by providing scholarships to children from low-income families that allows them to receive quality Catholic educations. With a strong faith in God for wisdom, direction and encouragement, this mission is accomplished through the joint efforts of hundreds of loving and selfless individuals in the form of the CEF management, the parents of the children, the donors, and especially the hundreds of gifted teachers and administrators at the Catholic schools. Their vision and their efforts, which stem from nowhere other than genuine love for others, allow these children and their families to turn away from possible discouragement and to have a reason to dare to hope for a better future and a life with less despair. The results are obvious, with 98+% of these children graduating from high school and going on to college.

Naturally, the improvement in lives is typically thought of in the form of a more secure economic future for the children and their families for generations to come. Even more important than this however, is that CEF is hoping to save souls. Through the religiously-based curriculum of the Catholic schools and the exposure to the faith-inspired faculty, the children begin to learn how to incorporate into their daily lives a faith in God which most assuredly will lead to the hope and love that led them to these schools in the first place. CEF is not only breaking the vicious cycle of poverty, it is actually reversing it and beginning new cycles of faith in God, hope for goodness, and love for each other.

In a world where words and actions can lead to more division and discord, I am abundantly thankful for the opportunity to witness, support and learn from the Catholic Education Foundation: an organization that provides the key to what our world needs now more than ever.

Susan Lally is a member of the CEF Board of Directors and is the Parish Accountant for St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Parish. 

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