FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) — Being told that $140,000.00 needs to be raised in two weeks in order to keep the doors of a school open is something that no students, parents, or educators ever want to hear. Especially if those students, parents, and educators are part of a private school meaning a minuscule budget as compared to their public counterparts.
Most can imagine that the ultimatum of raising the funds or closing the doors would almost certainly be met with a negative backlash from students, parents, and educators.
Maybe that is what made St. Patrick School’s “Save our School” campaign so successful. Instead of pointing fingers the students, parents, and educators banded together to accomplish what some felt was not possible.
Michelle Morrison is a parent, alum, and parish member at St. Patrick Church. She also serves as the president of the St. Patrick School Advisory Council and she told exploreVenango on Wednesday night that a major reason for the success of the campaign was the parents’ refusal to go negative.
“We have such a dedicated and passionate group of parents,” said Morrison. “Two weeks ago everyone came together and did their best to stay positive. Casting blame and being negative wasn’t going to accomplish anything.”
Two weeks ago, on May 24th, Morris and the rest of her council were informed that the parish was simply unable to fund another year of school.
“It was a surprise,” Morris said. “We were aware that enrollment had declined but we were not aware of the financial piece.”
Insert positive, passionate, and effective teamwork.
Not having time to send out mailers or organize a massive campaign like most non-profits do, Morrison pointed to the organizer’s ability to take advantage of what they already had in place to accomplish the goal of raising the $140,000.
“Time was of the essence. So we immediately turned to Facebook and other social media outlets to bring awareness to the situation. We already had an online donation service on our website so we simply reworded some of the things on there and spread that as much as possible.”
Looking at St. Patrick School’s Facebook page, the impact is obvious. Thousands upon thousands of people were reached, which in the end equated to more than $140,000.00 raised from more than 200 donors.