Speaking in most of our churches last weekend, students from St. Michael invited families to consider becoming “Guardian Angels” for Catholic families in need of assistance to attend St. Michael.
Response to this appeal have been generous since the school was founded.
“It’s a simple, but beautiful idea,” says Jenny Kopf, Director of Advancement and Admissions. “Families with teenagers are at that point when they are most stretched financially. Not only is high school expensive, but they’re worried about college and how they’re going to pay for it.”
“This program invites older Catholic families to become “Guardian Angels” for younger Catholic families,” Kopf says, to “pay the gift of Catholic education forward” to assist them. Those donations are placed in a savings account. If a family needs more financial assistance than the school can give them, parents go to their pastor and ask for additional help from the Guardian Angel fund. The pastor decides how much, and then notifies the school to transfer monies to the families’ account.”
“In this way,” Kopf continues, "It’s truly a ministry of the Church, from older families to younger ones, through their pastor. No student has ever been turned away for inability to pay since the school was founded, precisely because of this program. We are proud of that. We don’t want to be a private school that is exclusive to wealthy families—such schools are often stale, comprised of students from the same social class, with the same set of sensibilities and tastes. In contrast, our socio-economic diversity gives St. Michael our chemistry— we would even say, our flair. Our guardian angels makes that possible!"
For more information, and how to make a gift, visit the school’s Guardian Angel page.