St. Rita families join their school mascot at the annual Catholic Schools Walk, which takes place in collaboration with the six other Siena Catholic Schools of Racine. (Submitted photo)
Tablets and security cameras at St. Katharine Drexel in Beaver Dam. A much-needed new math curriculum at Waukesha Catholic. New desks and chairs at Holy Trinity in Kewaskum. Chromebooks at All Saints in Kenosha.
The proceeds from the annual Catholic Schools Walk are used in different ways by different schools, but the funds all have one thing in common: they stay right on campus, fulfilling the unique need (or needs) of the community that worked so hard to raise them.
For St. Rita School, a member of Siena Catholic Schools of Racine, appealing to local businesses has proved to be a game changer when it comes to fundraising. When school parent Hilary Lowman took over as chair of the Catholic Schools Walk for St. Rita two years ago, she wanted to “spread our reach and boost our engagement” instead of relying on the same donor pool year after year.
“I knew we had alumni that have businesses, and we have a very successful festival — so I knew we had corporate help out there,” said Lowman. So, the St. Rita Parent Association, which operates the walk, developed the strategy of offering advertisements on the Schools Walk t-shirts in exchange for sponsorship.
Each student and staff member gets a long-sleeved shirt that they can wear for the walk and the rest of the year, with the names and logos of supporting businesses. The cost of the shirts is covered by the fundraising, “and we have enough excess also to have extra funding for the school on top of what our parents bring in,” said Lowman.
The shirts are more than just a boon to fundraising, said St. Rita principal Beth Woodward. They’re also a great way to increase visibility of the Catholic Schools Walk.
“Not everyone shows up to the walk, but everybody gets a t-shirt because of all those corporate sponsors. The kids use it as their spirit wear the entire year,” she said. “It’s a good opportunity for parents, just to remind them about the walk and all of the opportunities that the funds from the walk provide for us.”
The school also does contests to boost engagement with families fundraising. There are prize baskets for the families who raise the most money, and the highest-earning family overall gets to place a pie in Woodward’s face at a pep rally.
“It’s actually a lot of fun,” she said good-naturedly.
Last year’s top-raising family raised more than $1,300, with others raising close to $1,000. Overall, the school raised close to $22,000. “It got intense,” said Lowman of the competition.
Currently, St. Rita has more than $14,000 raised, without adding in the corporate donors. Last year’s funds totaled more than $20,000 and paid for buses to several field trips, including to the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison and the Milwaukee County Zoo. It also purchased equipment for St. Rita’s science department, updated music supplies and replenished art supplies, as well as providing funding for a host of after-school clubs available to students — an art club, a board game club, a cooking club, a homework club, a Taekwondo club and a robotics club.
“We don’t charge the kids for any of this,” said Lowman. “This all comes from the (Schools Walk) money.”
“It means a tremendous amount to St. Rita, and it gives not only the students extra opportunities, but it gives the parents a sense of pride in their own accomplishments for what they’ve been able to contribute to all of the kids in the school, not just their own child or children,” said Woodward. “It’s really about supporting everybody.”
St. Rita joins with the six other Siena Catholic schools of Racine for their walk, which this year took place Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Siena Retreat Center. It’s a bustling, joyful scene on Racine’s lakefront, with school mascots, swag bags, games, face painting and other activities. Often, the Dominican Sisters will join the fun or watch from their windows. It also doubles as a kind of family reunion for the seven Siena Catholic schools. “Enough of the kids know kids at other schools through a lot of the different intramural sports — so it’s a lot of fun to get to see friends,” said Lowman.
Supporting Catholic education for Lowman is personal: not only is she the parent of two students at Catholic schools (one at St. Rita and the other at St. Catherine’s High School), she herself attended Catholic schools from grade school through her master’s degree in nursing.
“I firmly believe my solid Catholic education prepared me well for high school and again for my college years,” she said. “So, supporting the Catholic Schools Walk was a cause I could easily champion.”
