Newsletter 7/7/14

What a joy to write my first official newsletter for the Lafayette Catholic School System. I am extremely excited and honored to serve our school system as the Director of Development and Alumni Relations. It is hard to believe it has been a month on the job. In my short tenure I cannot express enough gratitude for the number of people who have done unbelievable things to keep the Lafayette Catholic School System thriving. As a student and young parent, you do not always realize the dedication of time, talent and resources people have committed over the years. To all of you, I want to say ‘Thank you!’

Looking to the future of development for the Lafayette Catholic School System, we have a lot of work to accomplish. As many of you are aware, we are in the midst of the Building Faith & Futures II Athletic Facility Campaign. This is a $2.1 million campaign to support our student athletes and successful athletic programs. To date we have raised just over $1.4 million. For the past 15 years, I have traveled the state of Indiana officiating high school football, baseball and basketball. Based upon my conversations with school administrators, officials and coaches we should be proud that we have one of the most recognized athletic programs in the state and will soon have an athletic complex to match our success. It is a true testament to the dedication of our student athletes, coaches, parents, alumni and supporters.

The new athletic complex is a great way for us to connect with the community. I look forward to welcoming more members from the area at our facilities that will now be able to compete in track and field events and practice on our soccer fields. It is estimated these new facilities provide us with the opportunity to touch approximately 20,000 more people over the course of a year.

Between now and the end of the year we have $700K more to raise. It is going to take hard work and your assistance to make this happen. In the coming weeks we will have a blog and live video stream highlighting the progress of the project. I welcome your comments and questions as the project progresses. If you want to personally learn more or financially support the project, please contact our office. Donations to the campaign may be paid over a 3-year period.

I am also pleased to announce there are much needed updates happening to the Central Catholic Jr./Sr. choir and band rooms this summer. I am pretty sure the carpet has not changed since I went to school here. Thanks to financial gifts from a grant and supporter, both rooms will be getting new carpet, acoustical ceiling, paint, whiteboards, electronic media and electric piano. We continue to seek additional funds to replace some or all of the musical instruments. If you get a moment, I would encourage you to look at our existing instruments. There are parts missing off many of them and most look like they have been here since the school opened. Based upon our survey of equipment there is an immediate need of $56,000 and an additional $33,000 need if we expand the program to 40 students. Please contact me if you would like to learn more about the project.

We are also analyzing all the ways our department can touch people. We have a great story to tell about what is happening in the Lafayette Catholic School System. Our Catholic community, parents, alumni and friends need to constantly hear the stories. Over the next couple of months, we will be working on a cohesive plan to communicate our stories through print, email, news and social media. In the near future there are several updates coming to our website www.lcss.org under Giving and Alumni.

If you ever have any questions, comments or suggestions for the Development office, please do not hesitate to contact me directly at mbuche@lcss.org or (765) 474-7500. We are here to serve the Lafayette Catholic School System community and cannot do our jobs successfully without your support. I am very excited about the future of our school system and look forward to serving in this capacity.

Sincerely,

Matt C.  Buche ‘95