Development Director's Letter
Catholic education faces many challenges over the next few years. As the new Development Director of Norwalk Catholic Schools, my staff and I face these challenges everyday. The Firelands Catholic Education Development Organization (FCEDO) has worked tirelessly over the past 18 years to promote the mission of Catholic Education. The volunteers and staff that have worked for FCEDO up to this point have built a very strong organization. Through their commitment to events such as the Spring Fling and the "Friends for the Future" Annual Fund a solid foundation has been built for Norwalk Catholic Schools. Resources are always tight in Catholic education and during these challenging economic times it is even more so. But, the positive part of these economic challenges is that people are starting to reconsider their priorities. I see people focusing less on material things and more on the values that make this country great; hard work, community and service to others. These values are on display all around us, and certainly have been made more apparent to me since I have taken on the role of development director.
My family has recently been blessed with the birth of our daughter. During our time at Fisher-Titus Medical Center I had a lot of time to contemplate what I was doing as the new development director. I saw so much of those community values on display. Watching the staff work at the birthing center reminded me of how important community is and how blessed we are as a society to have access to wonderful medical care. Even though Fisher-Titus has wonderful technology, it is the people that work there and the community that supports them that make them great. That is what working in development is about. Helping to create something with a committed group of people is development. Looking out the window from our hospital room at Norwalk High School and seeing that new building complex, I realized it was built through development work. In coming back to Norwalk Catholic School and seeing the students and teachers starting a new year, I saw them doing development work.
Development work is sometimes thought of as fundraising. While that is a part of what we do, the main goal of development is to build community. Creating an atmosphere of pride about what we are doing, creating a culture of service towards others and creating something that people can be proud of and support is development. Community building is essential to the success of any organization. While monetary donations help, building a school community also relies on the resource of time and talent. Our community at Norwalk Catholic School works tirelessly to create something better. Whether it is a volunteer doing repairs within the building or teachers in the classroom, they are doing development work.
We are so blessed at our school to have people who want to make a difference and do so every day. As a 1990 graduate of St. Paul, I did not truly appreciate that during my teenage years. It was not until much later that I realized that these community values were the most important thing in my life. My wife, Becky, and I are so fortunate to be able to live and contribute to this community. We know that are two children, Jefferson and Layla, will grow up in a place where values are important. I hope to be able to build on the legacy that many people of the Norwalk Catholic School community have left to us and keep Norwalk Catholic School a thriving member of the community.
My family has recently been blessed with the birth of our daughter. During our time at Fisher-Titus Medical Center I had a lot of time to contemplate what I was doing as the new development director. I saw so much of those community values on display. Watching the staff work at the birthing center reminded me of how important community is and how blessed we are as a society to have access to wonderful medical care. Even though Fisher-Titus has wonderful technology, it is the people that work there and the community that supports them that make them great. That is what working in development is about. Helping to create something with a committed group of people is development. Looking out the window from our hospital room at Norwalk High School and seeing that new building complex, I realized it was built through development work. In coming back to Norwalk Catholic School and seeing the students and teachers starting a new year, I saw them doing development work.
Development work is sometimes thought of as fundraising. While that is a part of what we do, the main goal of development is to build community. Creating an atmosphere of pride about what we are doing, creating a culture of service towards others and creating something that people can be proud of and support is development. Community building is essential to the success of any organization. While monetary donations help, building a school community also relies on the resource of time and talent. Our community at Norwalk Catholic School works tirelessly to create something better. Whether it is a volunteer doing repairs within the building or teachers in the classroom, they are doing development work.
We are so blessed at our school to have people who want to make a difference and do so every day. As a 1990 graduate of St. Paul, I did not truly appreciate that during my teenage years. It was not until much later that I realized that these community values were the most important thing in my life. My wife, Becky, and I are so fortunate to be able to live and contribute to this community. We know that are two children, Jefferson and Layla, will grow up in a place where values are important. I hope to be able to build on the legacy that many people of the Norwalk Catholic School community have left to us and keep Norwalk Catholic School a thriving member of the community.
